Naruto: Tsuchi no Kuni
by HnS-Ryouichi
Summary: Naruto: Country of the Earth; The beginning of the dark age of man has begun. In this darkness, there is but one ray of hope. The Chronicles of Uzumaki have begun.
1. Prologue: Escape

**Naruto: Tsuchi no Kuni  
**

Prologue: Escape

----

Words: 1,095

----

"Speech"

'_Thoughts_'

"**Kyuubi**"

**Sound Effect **

* * *

**Konoha: Night-time…**

A young boy ran through the dark alleys of Konohagakure no Sato, seeking refuge. Panting, he turned hard at another intersection and began running again.

'_Can't let them catch up to me… or else, or else they'll kill me!_' he thought fearfully.

Turning another corner, he faced a dead end.

'_Oh Kami-sama, not now!_' Looking around quickly he could spot no means of escape, as the sounds of the mob grew louder.

"Hey kid, need a hand?" A man emerged from the shadows and looked towards the boy.

Walking swiftly to him, the man muttered, "**Kage Inpei.**"

Both the man and the boy turned into shadows and melded into the background as the mob stepped into their alley.

"Where'd the demon brat go?"

"I was so sure he went this way…"

"He must've fooled us! Keep looking!"

Soon after, the noises faded away and the two came out of hiding.

"What's your name, kid?" the man asked.

The boy replied in kind, "Demon."

"I want to know your real name, boy."

Looking up quickly, the boy teared up. "No one's… ever asked me that except for Teuchi ojisan and Sandaime ojiisan…" Wiping away tears, the blonde child's resolve strengthened. "I'm… Uzumaki Naruto..." Naruto then began counting off fingers. "...four, five, six, seven... I'm seven years old. All the people say that I am the demon of Konoha…"

Putting a reassuring hand on Naruto's shoulder, the man smiled softly. "My name is Nara Shikato."

Smiling brightly, Naruto looked up at Shikato. "You're the third person that's ever been nice to me. It's really nice to meet you, Shikato-san!"

"How many times have you been attacked like this, Naruto?"

Frowning in deep thought, Naruto finally replied, "Once a year... and other times when the villagers feel like it."

Shikato scowled. '_This boy deserves better… After all, he's already had it tough with the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. The villagers attacking him makes it all the more worse._' Straightening up, he looked sternly at the blonde. "Naruto, tonight I will tell you why the villagers hate you so. I will understand if you don't want to hear it…"

"I do! I want to know why they hate me so I can change that!"

'_Sorry, Sandaime-sama… I'm afraid I must break your rule, for his sake…_'

"Naruto… Tell me, what do you know of the Kyuubi no Yoko?"

"The Kyuubi was a great and powerful demon!" Naruto smiled brightly. "The great Yondaime-sama killed it!"

"Naruto, there is one important thing I must tell you." The blonde looked up at Shikato in a puzzled way. "The Kyuubi… it was never killed. Yondaime-sama, no matter how strong he was… he was only human, and the Kyuubi was a demon lord. Because of this, the Yondaime instead sealed the Kyuubi into a newborn child. That child… is you, Naruto."

The said blonde stared at the floor, dejected. "So the villagers were right… I _am_ a demon."

"Don't say that!" Shikato scolded. "Remember, you are only a demon if you believe that you are. You are merely the container, a jinchuuriki. As a child, you took upon a great responsibility to keep Konoha safe from the Kyuubi, by becoming its jailor."

"Do you really think that, Shikato-san?" Naruto asked, still looking down.

"Yes Naruto, I do. I fear that if you stay in Konoha any longer, your life will be in danger from further attack. Do you understand where I'm heading?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. Where am I going?"

Scowling a little, Shikato replied, "Iwagakure no Sato."

Silence… "Alright. When do I leave?" Naruto asked.

"…Now."

* * *

**Twenty minutes later…**

Shikato met Naruto at the gates of Konoha, and brought along a young boy as well.

"Naruto, this is Shikamaru. He'll be helping in your escape tonight." Shikato explained carefully.

Shikamaru spotted Naruto and lazily held out a hand. "Hey, I'm Nara Shikamaru. I like sleeping and watching the clouds."

Taking the hand, Naruto smiled. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, and I suppose I won't be seeing you for a long time, ne?"

Shikamaru frowned. "No… I take it we won't. But if you ever decide to visit, I'll be waiting… Naruto, though it'll be really troublesome to wait for so long."

"I thank you both…" Naruto muttered.

Shikato turned to Shikamaru. "Go now." Following his father's instructions, Shikamaru ran to the walls that held the gate in place. Taking a deep breath, he feigned tripping and fell off the wall.

"WAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed in also feigned panic.

Immediately, every shinobi on duty around Shikamaru jumped after him, Shikato with Naruto included. The shinobi landed on the ground and focused on the boy, not noticing that Shikato had now become one with the shadows again. Returning to physical form in the nearby trees, he watched as his son was caught safely. Holding up a hand in victory, Shikato led Naruto to a point a bit further away.

"**Kagekuki,**" he muttered.

The two of them disappeared and appeared at another clearing, causing Naruto to become disoriented from the sudden shift in position.

Naruto looked around, noticing the change in background. "Shikato-san, where are we?"

"We are… at the Konoha-Iwa border. This is where I leave you, Naruto." He looked down at the small boy, and a warm feeling began surrounding his chest area. "Stay safe and may luck be with you, Naruto. Become a successful shinobi, and do the Nara clan proud."

Breathing deeply, Naruto turned and ran across the border and with all his might towards Iwagakure.

'_Arigatou… Nara Shikato-san._'

Watching Naruto's retreating back, Shikato smiled lightly and disappeared in a flurry of shadows…

* * *

Well, prologue for Iwagakure is done. I had to rewrite parts several times… This'll be a side project for my main Black Lightning, which I will be updating in this week of 10/8. Made him older, please bear with me. 

**Vocabulary:**

Arigatou - Thank you

Konohagakure no Sato- The Hidden Village of the Leaves

Kami- God

Ojisan- Uncle

Ojiisan - Grandfather

**Jutsu List:**

**Kage Inpei (Shadow Concealment) – Clan Technique – The user uses chakra to turn themselves into a shadow and masking their presence, smell, and chakra, making this a perfect concealment technique. The perfection comes at a cost though, of which the cost is a large amount of chakra use. **

**Kagekuki (Shadow Stalk) – Clan Technique – The user sets down a marker at a certain point. At a later point in time, the user can then use Kagekuki to teleport to that marker as long as it is not destroyed. Similar to the Yondaime's Hiraishin no Jutsu, the Kagekuki is made for long term teleportation uses.**


	2. Arrival

**Naruto: Tsuchi no Kuni**

Chapter 1: Arrival

"Speech"

'_Thoughts_'

**"Kyuubi"**

**Sound Effect**

* * *

Iwa fought Konoha in the Great Shinobi Wars, which took place many years ago. Namikaze Minato, Jounin sensei of his team consisting of Obito, Kakashi, and Rin, earned himself the nickname 'Konoha's Yellow Flash' because of his famed Hiraishin no Jutsu, which he had developed himself. Because of his skill and his rising count of Iwa shinobi kills, he was hated severely by the people of Tsuchi no Kuni. In the end, after many years, Iwa was forced to surrender in the face of the Yellow Flash's victories.

The Sandaime Tsuchikage retired a few years after the end of the war, and Dainadare Katsu was chosen as the Yondaime Tsuchikage. He did not resent the Yellow Flash as his peers did, because he believed that Minato was merely doing what he was ordered to do. It was war, and any one side couldn't be blamed for the deaths. In time, the resentment against Konoha's Yellow Flash diminished, albeit slowly. When Minato became the Yondaime Hokage and extended a peace treaty towards Iwa, Katsu gladly accepted, hoping to put behind them the horrors of the Iwa-Konoha wars.

Unfortunately, the Kyuubi's arrival forced Konoha to withdraw from the alliance temporarily. In the battle with the demon fox, Konoha lost several hundred shinobi. In the ensuing battle, Minato forfeited his life to seal Kyuubi into his newborn child. No ninja village knew of this, as it was kept a secret until the boy reached an age where he could actually defend himself. Devastated by the Yondaime's death, Konoha reelected Sarutobi to return from retirement to retake his old job of Sandaime. Iwa's council, now unsure of the alliance, withdrew from it. They did not want to ally themselves to a ninja country whose strength was waning and fate unknown. Konoha's strength eventually recovered, but anti-Iwa sentiments over the withdrawal still flared.

Uzumaki Naruto, as the Sandaime named him, was the legacy of the late Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. This was so in the fact that Minato had sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto, as well as the fact that Naruto was his own son, chosen to bear the immense burden. Unknown to even Konoha's own council, Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, and Hatake Kakashi, aspiring ANBU captain, kept the boy's heritage a secret.

Shunned by society, Naruto ran away from Konoha with the help of the Nara family, to seek shelter in Tsuchi no Kuni… in Iwagakure no Sato, Konoha's long time enemy. Now, the legend of Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko and the legacy of Konoha's Yellow Flash, begins…

* * *

**Outskirts of Iwagakure: Dawn**

A lone squad of Chuunin stood guard at the South Gate.

"Geez, I hate taking the night shift," one guard grumbled.

"It's not like we have any choice," a second guard spoke in a voice that clearly revealed his boredom.

The third guard lay down on his back. "The really nice thing is that you get to see the countless stars. Plus, you get to see the rising sun…"

"Natural beauty is nice and all, but I really prefer the day shift, when all the interesting people start coming," the final fourth guard commented.

The second guard squinted his eyes as he looked off to the distance. "Hey, what's that?"

"It's the sun, you baka." The guard glared at his companion. "Shut up, I'm talking about that moving speck in the distance."

Perking up, said guard began looking as well. "Hey, what do you know? It looks like a person."

The fourth guard looked as well. "The person looks too small to be that old though… What would a kid be doing all the way out here?"

"Who knows?" The third guard sat up. "Well, our shift is almost up soon. What do we do with that stranger?"

As the conversation wore on, Naruto was swearing mentally. '_Damned leeches and their damned blood sucking habits! Why did I have to fall in a damned river? Why is there even a damned river inside Tsuchi no Kuni? I thought they imported all their water!_'

Off in the distance, he could make out the walls of Iwagakure. '_Yes! I'm actually here! What should be my first course of action?_' Excited, he began picking up speed as he began sprinting to the gate. '_Do they have a ninja academy? Am I old enough to enter? Do they have ramen in Iwagakure? And why do I feel like my back is itching?_' These and other thoughts ran through young Naruto's mind as he closed the distance, step by step.

Closer than before, he could make out the figures of the guards on top of the walls. '_Who the hell takes night shift anyway?_' He could see even from that distance that they were bored out of their wits. '_If I ever become a ninja, there is no way in hell I'm ever taking the night shift… or even standing guard for that matter!_'

Slowing to a trot, he reached the gates and looked up. "Oi! Nice day isn't it?"

The first guard peered down from where he was standing. "I suppose so!" he called back. "Who the heck are you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, a runaway from Konoha!" the blonde called back.

By this time, the third guard had gotten up and walked up to the side of the wall as well. "Konoha? He's too young to be a ninja and he doesn't have a hitai-ate either. Maybe he was treated badly…"

"Eh, that doesn't matter. Civilians are always welcome in Iwagakure. Missing-nin are even more welcome, more so if they're from Konoha." The fourth guard laughed. "Runaway nin or civilian, we should let him in first and ask more detailed questions later."

"Okay!" The second guard got up and leapt down to ground level. '_Damn, I've got to stop doing that,_' he thought, as he painfully hobbled over to the gate contraption. Walking over to the sleeping gate crew, he kicked them to consciousness and told them to open the gate.

"What, already?" one complained. "It's got to be the break of dawn!" This got him another kick in the side. "Just get the hell up and open the doors, dammit!" the guard roared.

And so, the gates of Iwagakure opened unto former Konohagakure civilian Uzumaki Naruto, bearer of the Kyuubi. Of course, no one but him knew that. As he walked in, the four guards from earlier confronted him. "Hi! You must be the idiots that took the night shift!"

They all deadpanned; embarrassed that even some kid would know better than to take the shift. The first guard recovered the quickest, and let loose the first question; "Hey kid, how old are you? Why are you here? What's your business?" Okay, so he let loose the first 'several' questions…

"First off, I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I'm seven years old and I'm here because Konoha is a load of shit." At this, the third guard snickered in agreement. Ignoring this, Naruto continued on. "I got tired of dealing with all the abuse so I came to Iwagakure to swear my loyalty as 'future' shinobi of the Stone."

The fourth guard grinned. "Future shinobi, eh? Yeah, I suppose… First thing you need to do if you are new is to go to the Tsuchikage tower and sign up as a civilian. Then, you need to take a test to prove your loyalty to Iwagakure. Then… ah screw it, you'll know when you come upon that bridge." Taking Naruto by the shoulder, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The two reappeared in the Kage office. The guard stood near the door, while Naruto began coughing excessively. "What the hell was that? Do you naturally fill your **Shunshin no Jutsu** smoke with pepper?" The guard shrugged in his indifference.

"So… who are the unlucky victims that disturbed my rest before the appointed time of paperwork signing?" a dangerous voice behind the desk growled. Naruto turned to see the Tsuchikage, a man of about thirty-five years of age and a lively mane of red. Glittering green eyes glared at the intruders, demanding an explanation. "Well? Answer yourselves!"

The guard snapped to attention. "Tsuchikage-sama! This is Uzumaki Naruto, a runaway civilian from Konohagakure! He wishes to become a civilian of Iwagakure and train to become a shinobi!" he rapidly repeated Naruto's story. The part of him being a runaway from Konoha particularly caught the Tsuchikage's ears. "You're from Konoha? How did you get out without evading the guards?"

Naruto gulped. '_This man… he looks intimidating._' "The Nara clan helped me out, Tsuchikage-sama…"

He raised an eyebrow. '_The famed shadow users of Konoha helped him 'escape' Konoha? Well, what an interesting turn of events…_' Leaning forward, the Tsuchikage leered down at Naruto. "Well, before we start the official paperwork, tell me… do you possess any special, ah… traits, that might support your cause of joining our shinobi forces?"

Naruto thought for a moment, and then peered behind him at the guard. "I'll tell you if he leaves…" He then turned his attention to the guard. "It's not like I don't like you, but it's just that I don't want you to know what I'm going to talk about."

The guard merely shrugged. "It's alright with me, kid." Turning, he walked outside the door before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

So, the Tsuchikage once again looked at Naruto. "Well? He's gone, so why don't you go ahead and tell me; are you special in any way or form?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Can you keep this a secret though?" The Kage nodded. "I'm… a jinchuuriki. At least, that's what Nara-san told me."

The Tsuchikage became very interested at this tidbit of information. "A jinchuuriki you say? What sort of demon is sealed inside you? A minor one?" Naruto shook his head. "The… Kyuubi no Yoko."

The Kage's eyes widened considerably. '_This is the famous container of the Kyuubi no Yoko? The one who was sealed by the Konoha's Yellow Flash?_' He rubbed his chin. '_What an interesting development… It seems that Konoha's abuse finally broke the boy and made him run… What a waste of a powerful ally._' The Tsuchikage nodded, a smile gracing his face. "Very well, Uzumaki Naruto. I don't know how the citizens of Konoha treated you, but power and potential such as yours shall not go to waste here in Iwagakure."

Naruto brightened up. "I'm glad that you're nicer than those freaks back in Konoha." The Kage waved his hand dismissively. "Nonsense! You took upon a great burden, whether by your will or not. I will not prejudice against you for such an action."

Standing up, he walked over to Naruto. "You will be a great addition to our shinobi forces. In fact, instead of going to the Academy, I'll enroll you with a special private tutor! Your potential must be realized as soon as humanly possible!"

Naruto bowed deeply. "Thank you so much for your… um, oh yeah, hospitality." He rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "I'm sorry heheh, I don't have that large of a… uh, voc… vocab…"

"Vocabulary," the Kage finished for him. "Yeah, that's the word!" Naruto smiled. "I promise to become the best I can be, for the first village to ever acknowledge me!" he vowed.

"Good, good. Your private tutoring will begin in a week. First, you must go through the process of naturalization. Then, you must visit all over Iwagakure. After all, it isn't right for a newcomer such as you not to meet new people and see grand sights." He moved to lead Naruto to the registration area, but stopped. "Ah yes, come to me later in the afternoon. By then, I'll have found somewhere for you to live!"

Stopping at the door, he motioned for Naruto to follow him. "Naruto-kun… since you are new, I suppose you'll need a guide to lead you around?"

"Yeah."

The Tsuchikage pondered for a while as they walked through the hallways. "I've got it! I'll assign one of our Academy teams to lead you around as a mission!"

Naruto looked puzzled. "Academy team? What's that?"

The Kage stared, when realization hit him. "Oh, hahah! I forgot that Konoha doesn't do that sort of stuff. Over here in Iwa, we encourage the formation of teams early on to foster friendship and teamwork."

The blonde nodded understandingly. "Anyway, Tsuchikage-sama-"

"Ah, the name's Dainadare Katsu. You may call me Katsu-san or Katsu-sama. Tsuchikage is quite the long word, plus it makes me sound old."

"Heheh, I suppose it does, since Hokage-ojiisan is really old," Naruto commented.

Katsu smirked. "I feel sorry for the guy. He should've been living happily in retirement but he's still working his ass off with paperwork and all that other crap."

He sighed, and the two walked in silence until they reached the naturalization room. There, Katsu turned to Naruto. "Listen here Naruto, once you go in, you won't be coming out until you're an official citizen of Iwa. If there is anything that confuses you, don't hesitate to ask the officials for assistance. They try to look threatening on purpose, so that they don't have to help anyone."

Naruto grinned. "Sure thing, Katsu-san!" With that, Naruto walked calmly through the door to see… a bunch of tables, an even larger bunch of surly looking officials, and a huge bunch of paperwork. "Dear Kami-sama, I've never seen so much paper in my life," Naruto gasped. Indeed, the paperwork in the room reached six feet at certain points, and it certainly dwarfed young seven-year-old Naruto.

"Oi kid, what do you want?" one of the surly officials grunted.

Naruto snapped his head up. "Uh… I'm here to get… n-uh… naturalized."

The official stared before taking a stack of paper and dropping it in front of Naruto, causing the blonde's eyes to bulge out.

"Take a sheet and destroy the rest," the man told him. Naruto sighed in relief. Taking the top sheet, he pulled out a match that he had found several weeks ago. Finding nowhere to light it, he groaned and put it away. Taking out a small pocketknife he had gotten from the Sandaime Hokage two years previous to his escape, he proceeded to slice and dice the stack of papers. With that done, he looked up at the official expectantly.

"After you clean up that mess, come back and fill out your form." Naruto face vaulted to the floor, but followed the man's instructions nevertheless, though he swore under his breath all the while.

Mess cleaned up, he took a look at the sheet of paper in front of him. "Name… Uzumaki Naruto. Age? Seven years old… Hair color… yellow. Eye color… bright blue. Skin color… the hell?" Naruto walked up to a different official. "Sir, what color of skin do I have?"

The man took a quick glance at Naruto before muttering out a reply. "Medium tan."

Naruto nodded and returned to his paper. "Medium tan skin… Previous birthplace? Konoha, of course. Occupation? Umm…" He walked over to yet another official. "Sir, what's an occupation?" The reply was short and to the point. "Your job."

"Okay… my job is a… I don't have one. Oh well, I'll put none. Next, height and weight… The last time I checked, I was really short and weighed average…" Thus, Naruto jotted down 'really short' as his height and 'average' as his weight. When Katsu had eyed the sheet of paper after the naturalization, he had laughed aloud when he saw what Naruto had put down.

Back to the normal timeframe… Naruto had finished up the sheet of paper, ending the address part of the paper with an 'unknown.' Getting up, he walked over to what seemed the lead official. "Sir, I've finished my registration."

The man took the sheet of paper and read through it quickly. When he had reached certain parts of the paper, he had to stifle laughs. '_Height, really short; weight, average. IQ, really high, and location, in the naturalization room. Heheh, this boy cracks me up._'

Coughing, he straightened up and gave Naruto a look-over. "Alright kid, you're good to go. I don't know what a boy like you is doing in here without guardians, but it's none of my concerns. Off with you!" Shooing him out, he returned to staring at the ceiling.

Meanwhile, Naruto had bounded out of the room and was running to the Kage office as fast as possible. Slamming open the door, he burst inside to see a very surprised Katsu. "N-Naruto? Did you really have to be so sudden?" the red-haired man nearly yelled.

"Katsu-san! I'm done with naturalization. What now?" Naruto jumped up and down repeatedly, waiting for an answer. Katsu tiredly looked at the clock. '_It's three hours until the afternoon… What am I to do with this boy?_' Sighing, he got up and went over to a cage with a bird inside. "Katsu-san? What are you doing?" Katsu wrote a quick letter and inserted it into a capsule on the bird's leg. "I'm sending for the Academy team that's to guide you around, Naruto. I'm sorry, but it's still so early that I haven't been able to find somewhere for you to live yet."

Naruto gave a toothy grin. "Not to worry! I just hope that this 'team' is nice."

"Oh, I just hope they'll be able to keep up with you, Naruto." Katsu grinned. "That's why I assigned our top first-year Academy team to guide you around."

"Why the top team?" he asked curiously.

Grimacing, Katsu looked out the window. "Because you're so hyperactive, Naruto. Any other team would be driven to madness. Not this team though, because they're the best. At least I hope…"

Turning back to Naruto, Katsu took in his features. '_He has spiky and unruly blonde hair… sapphire-blue eyes and a well-tanned skin. There are also his three whisker marks on each side of his face on either cheek. He reminds me so much of… the Yellow Flash… Could they be related in some way?_' He shook these thoughts out of his head. '_I will deal with these problems when they arise. As for now, the boy needs guidance. I personally have no grudge against the Yellow Flash; he was a soldier who merely followed his orders. If by some chance Naruto happens to be his offspring… well that's much better for us, to have the child of the Leaf's most prominent Hokage under our forces…_'

The door opened abruptly to reveal three young children. Naruto eyed each of them carefully. '_The first guy… he's got black hair and eyes and the sort of look that the bastard Uchihas gave everyone else… the kind of look where he feels he's better than everyone else… The second guy… he looks a lot like me, with that really happy smile and his kind eyes. He has strange orange hair though… At least I have the same blue eyes as him. The third guy… wait, that's a girl… she has blonde hair like me, but has green eyes… They all look my age._'

"Well Naruto, Academy Team 4 will be your guide for the day. Come back in a few hours and I'll have arranged housing for you." He sat down at his desk and began his paperwork. "To Team 4, I wish you the best of luck."

The first boy looked spitefully at Naruto. "We have to baby-sit this _kid_ and guide him around town?" Said blonde growled at the insult. The orange haired kid stepped in between them. "Oi, let's keep the fighting to a low, okay?" He then turned to Naruto with a large smile. "Hi! My name is Shinseikoujo Ichigo, age eight. The 'I'm better than you' guy next to me is Wangetsuki Shourisha, or Shou for short. He's seven."

The final member of the team spoke for herself as she held out a hand. "I'm Fukyuubi Yumi, also age seven, and the final member of Academy Team 4. A pleasure to meet you…"

Naruto grasped her hand and shook it. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I have no team, and I'm going to become a powerful shinobi!"

Shou scoffed. "Like an loud dumbass like you can become powerful." Gritting his teeth, Naruto clenched his fists as Ichigo put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't mind him. He's been like this his _entire_ life. I think his parents didn't love him enough…"

Laughing, Naruto recovered quickly from his outburst. "If he got like that because of not enough love, then I should be worse than him, because I've _never_ been loved." This caught Shou's attention. Looking up and into Naruto's eyes, he could see pain underneath the happy eyes, though it was well hidden. '_So… he's never felt love…? I may have to reconsider this guy._'

"H-How does it feel to have not been loved?" Yumi asked. Naruto glared out the window. "It sucks, big time. Sometimes, you feel lonely because no one is there for you. Sometimes, you feel jealous of other kids who have actual families."

Ichigo looked downward. '_So he's an orphan… that sucks._'

"Sometimes, you feel sad because you don't know why the villagers _attacked_ you," he continued. "Sometimes, you feel depressed from constantly receiving glares and insults and forced out of every single building. Sometimes… you just wish you could kill every single one of them…"

"Didn't _anyone_ accept you?" Ichigo ventured to ask. "There has to be at least one."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, there were a few. Sandaime Hokage ojiisan, Teuchi ojisan, Nara Shikaku san, and his kid, Nara Shikamaru."

Shou mentally counted the people. '_Four people, three adults and one kid… Out of the several thousand of Konoha's population, four accept him… the rest absolutely hate him. I seem to have found a new respect for this guy; a guy who's gone through so much and is still so… happy-go-lucky… I want to know how he did it._' Gritting his teeth, he vowed to find out. '_He's a hated orphan who lived seven years of his life bathed in the hate of others. If I can find out how he managed to become like this… Maybe, just maybe, I can change myself…_'

Katsu growled. "If you're done, can you please talk _outside_ my office? I have to do _lots_ of paperwork, and I can't be disturbed. Now shoo!" The four children were shoved outside the room, albeit slightly pissed off, though none of them showed it.

'_What's so important about damned paperwork, anyway?_' Naruto thought furiously. '_Whatever it is, I'm not going to find out. Kami-sama help me, if being a Kage means lots of paperwork, screw it!_' Attention returning to Team 4, he turned to the obvious peacemaker, Ichigo. "So… where do we go first? I'm new after all, and I don't know my way around town."

Ichigo cheered loudly. "Let's go to the ramen stand first!"

"WHAT? THERE'S RAMEN? LET'S GO!" Naruto roared back. The two of them immediately took off, Ichigo in front leading Naruto. Shou sweatdropped and Yumi sighed. "Great, he's a ramen-addict too," she groaned.

It wasn't long before Yumi and Shou had arrived at the ramen stand. It was about five minutes since Ichigo and Naruto had run off. When they had entered though, Shou could see at least five empty bowls of ramen for each boy. '_How the hell do they eat so much?_' Shou thought curiously. Yumi groaned again. "He even _eats_ as much as Ichigo…"

Shou stared at the orange and blonde haired kids. "…How are they going to pay for that?" he wondered aloud. One man sitting next to Naruto shook his head in disbelief. "Do they have black holes for their stomachs?"

When it looked like the two wouldn't stop eating the ramen, Shou and Yumi each took one of the boys by the collar and dragged them away. "Put it on our tab!" Yumi called to the owner before leaving. It was ten meters away before either Naruto or Ichigo was let down from being dragged. "NO, MY RAMEN!" Naruto moaned. Ichigo wept anime tears, and assumed the fetal position. Five minutes passed with no change in the two, and Shou had just about had enough.

"GOD DAMMIT! STOP MOPING AROUND LIKE THAT AND LET'S GET A MOVE ON! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAMNED DAY YOU KNOW!" he roared at the top of his lungs. Naruto and Ichigo were shocked out of their act and quickly stood up. "Come on, we have places to go to, and I don't need to waste any more time watching your antics." Shou immediately set off, forcing the two boys to grudgingly fall in step with him. Not long after, Naruto was seen running around town…

In the span of three hours, Naruto had run everyone on Team 4 ragged, Ichigo excluded. In these three hours, Team 4 had run all over town, explaining buildings as they ran and ran through streets and intersections to keep up with the hyperactive boy. It was with great pleasure, and displeasure on Ichigo's part, to finally tell the Tsuchikage that the mission was a success.

Katsu clapped his hands together. "Good work, Team 4! Here is your pay, in the proper amount of a 'C-Rank' mission." Shou and Yumi deadpanned. '_It seems that he knew how troublesome the kid was…_'

Turning to Naruto, Katsu shuffled through his drawers a bit until he found what he was looking for. "Aha!" He then turned to hand a key to the blonde boy. "Naruto, this will be your _new_ address, which you will be living in." Remembering, Katsu then shuffled around for pen and paper, and wrote down the address itself. "Team 4, I expect for you to escort Naruto to his new house on your way home."

Yumi was about to retort when Ichigo clapped his hands over her mouth. "We'd be _delighted_ to take up that offer, Tsuchikage-sama!" This received hot glares from the other two members of his team. Without looking at them, Ichigo took the paper and looked at it. "HOLY COW!" he shouted. Shou and Yumi leaned in to get a look at the address themselves. "What in the…" "Oh. My. God."

"What? What?" Naruto repeatedly asked them, confused. "What's wrong with the address?" Ichigo took hold of Naruto and led him outside. "You'll see when we get there, Naruto."

Ichigo led the group, street-by-street, avenue-by-avenue. Soon enough, they were at an area with barely any people around. "Where the hell are we? Are we lost? If we aren't, where's my house?" Naruto rambled off one question after another, but was quickly halted by Ichigo's hand. "We're here. Machi no Tsuchi." Naruto looked onto the street and gasped aloud. Large, three-story buildings adorned the sides of the road. "Is this where all the rich people live?" he asked in awe. Shou nodded silently.

They walked from house to house, in search of Naruto's. "Machi no Tsuchi… number 312. This is it." The four of them looked up to see something strange. "The house… it has four stories?" Yumi asked in confusion. "The hell…?" Shou muttered. Ichigo stared at the house, then at the surrounding houses. "How strange… why is this house different?"

Naruto ran to the door and pulled out his key. "Who cares? I have my own house now, yahoo!" Inserting the key, he quickly unlocked the front door and opened it. "Holy hell…" The entrance hall was quite large, to say the least. "The entrance is as big as my old damn apartment back in Konoha," Naruto gasped. Shou shoved him inside and closed the door. "And good riddance! I thought this torture would _never_ end."

Before he could take three more steps, the second story window opened up and… "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Team 4 was shocked into silence, which was broken a moment later by Ichigo's cheering and Yumi's weeping. Shou continued to stare at the blonde in disbelief.

'_Curse you Kami-sama…_'

* * *

I formally declare… that I need beta-readers. I need three of them, to pre-read all my chapters. I finished the chapter, but I lost steam at the end and I don't think I did too well there. Give me your suggestions on what to do next, though I have a vague idea.

**Question** _&_ Answer

**When will you update your story Precious Person?** When I have the time. Black Lightning is taking a lot of my spare time though.

**Will Naruto be Yondaime's son in this fanfic? **Of course, but know one knows that except Sandaime –wink-

**Vocabulary**

Baka – Idiot

Tsuchi no Kuni – Country of the Earth

Iwagakure no Sato – Hidden Village of the Stone

Tsuchikage – Earth Shadow

**Dainadare** _Katsu_ – **Great Avalanche** - _Victory_

**Shinseikoujo **_Ichigo _– **True Kindness **_One Protector_

**Wangetsuki **_Shourisha_ – **Crescent Moon** _Victor/Winner_ (AN: Is it Wangetsutsuki or Wangetsuki?)

**Fukyuubi **_Yumi _– **Eternal Beauty** (_Yu- Reason Mi- Beautiful_)

**Uzumaki **_Naruto _– **Spiral/(Swirling) **_Whirlpool_/(_Maelstrom_) – Individually means Spiral Whirlpool. Together, means Swirling Maelstrom.

Machi no Tsuchi – Earth's Road

**Jutsu List**

**Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) - D-Rank - The user uses chakra to activate the body, moving from one point to another in the blink of an eye. This jutsu can be modified for long-range use, much like the way Kakashi uses it to teleport to different places around Konoha.**


	3. Taijutsu Training

**Naruto: Tsuchi no Kuni**

Chapter 2: Beginnings: Taijutsu

----

**Words:** 11,648 **Hits:** 3,481 **Reviews:** 40 **Favs:** 31 **Alerts:** 91

----

"Speech"

'_Thoughts_'

"**Kyuubi**"

**Sound Effect**

**Author: **Thanks to beta-reader **Starjacker**, for the mistake finding, and **hoyt** for your suggestions. I have edited the fanfiction and fixed said mistakes.

Dammit, I accidently replaced Arrival with Beginnings: Taijutsu, and I lost the post-edited version. -sobs-. Anyway, I modified the Asuka chase scenes and added a lot more description.

* * *

**Ichiganmi - Iwagakure: Morning - One week later...**

Naruto busied himself eating his ramen, as he thought about the bothersome name of the ramen restaurant that Ichigo had introduced to him a week ago. The placed looked like any other ramen restaurant, but the only difference was it was slightly larger. Unlike Ichiraku, where there were about five or six seats next to the counter, Ichiganmi's counter lay deeper inside the building, the rest of the space containing tables and chairs for a larger customer count.

The words Ichiganmi hung on the front of the building, just as Ichiraku had done with theirs, and flaps fell from the signs to about the waist, guaranteeing partial privacy to the customers. Behind the counter, everything was normal. A large stove for large pots, a large cutting board on the kitchen counter for noodle making, and a sink for dishwashing. Ichiraku's Teuchi was slightly on the heavy side, but Ichiganmi's 'chief chef' was quite the muscular man, especially well built near the chest and arms.

"Oi, ojisan! Do you by chance know of Ichiraku Ramen?" he asked eventually, relating one name to the other.

The chief who manned the cooking pots looked over at the blonde. "Know of it? That's my all-time archrival's ramen stand! How do you know of it?"

"Ah… he made ramen as good as you back in Konoha," was Naruto's obvious reply.

The man wept tears of happiness. "I'm as good as him? By Kami-sama, I have done it! I have done what no other man could think to accomplish; rival daring old Teuchi in ramen making!" While the man ranted, a familiar head of orange ducked under the flaps and stopped at the entrance, pondering the menu for a split second. Sauntering in and onto a seat, Ichigo looked over to his right, causing his eyes to widen. "Naruto! You're here quite early, neh?"

Surprised, Naruto turned left to see the orange-haired boy grinning. "Oh, hey Ichigo." Taking up another slurp of ramen noodles, he looked around. "I don't see the rest of your team here…"

Ichigo waved his hand in resignation. "They refused to come here, not after seeing your ramen obsession. I think they're afraid of finding you here."

Naruto took up a look of mock offense. "Why should they be afraid of me? Am I really that vicious?"

Ichigo grinned foxily. "Naw, I think it's because of our huge appetites. They had to pay quite a bit for our… ah, meals, a few days ago."

Naruto snickered as he remembered. "We each ate like ten bowls, I think. Yeah, ramen here is as good as it was in Konoha."

Ichigo nodded knowingly, then looked down at a watch hanging from his wrist. "Oh shoot, I have to go to the Academy." He got up and made to run out of the ramen shop. "I might have missed breakfast, but count on me being here for lunch, Naruto!" Naruto waved at the retreating boy. "I'll see you later, then!"

Sighing, Naruto paid for his bill with the money he possessed at the moment, as Katsu had inconveniently forgot to provide the boy with money. Making a note to himself to bother the Tsuchikage the first chance he got, the blonde wandered over to a local library. It wasn't hard to find, what with the words LIBRARY, printed in large, bold print above the double doors. The inside was quite large, holding more than a thousand books by Naruto's own estimate, and very organized, aisles separated to sections which separated to authors which separated to subjects. Finding the section related to shinobi, he began reading books about basic chakra theory while sitting in the middle of the aisle, which was matted with soft red rug. '_Physical stamina is converted to the energy used in taijutsu, while mental stamina is converted to the energy used in 'using your head'. Chakra is created when you convert a combination of physical and mental stamina, into chakra… Stamina can be converted to chakra, but not vice versa. It is imperative for all shinobi to develop proper chakra control, so that chakra is used efficiently and is not wasted._' Naruto scratched his head in confusion and shrugged, storing the information away for use in another time.

'_Chakra control methods consist of running up vertical stretches of mountain or waterfalls, walking on water or deep pools of mud, balancing kunai on fingertips, and a combination of the previous. Shinobi with great chakra control have the capacity to use the absolute minimum chakra for a jutsu, having leftover chakra to use in other techniques._' "Eh, I'm way too young to really understand this stuff," Naruto muttered. "I might as well keep reading though, I guess it'll help a lot later when I have less time to read…"

"_Of such shinobi, the Konoha no Kiroi Senkou is amongst the greatest shinobi to have graced the history of the shinobi world. With his infamous **Hiraishin no Jutsu**, the Kiroi Senkou was a force to be reckoned with, often winning battles involving ratios of twenty to one._' Stars in his eyes, Naruto wowed. "He's so _cool_! I want to be just like him!" Pausing, his sensitive ears heard someone behind him.

Whirling around, he came face to face with a petite girl with fiery red hair that reached her shoulders and emerald green eyes. She wore a white tanktop and blue shorts with a kunai holster on her right leg, and had standard ninja sandals. '_Huh… she looks familiar…_' Naruto thought in the moments following his discovery. Eyes wandering to her a metallic glint on her waist, he spotted a hitai-ate, complete with an engraved stone. '_Hey… she's a _shinobi' "Uh, who are you?" Naruto asked, trying not to look surprised.

"You should tell your name before you ask me what mine is," the girl said loudly. Naruto rubbed his head apologetically. "Sorry about that, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, what's your name?"

An eyebrow rose, and her mouth curved into a smirk. "Ah yes, I've heard about you. My name is Dainadare Asuka, genius shinobi, and I'm six and three-quarters years old."

Naruto was silent for a moment, her clan name becoming more and more familiar until… "WHAAAAT!?"

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he looked up again at the girl. "Katsu-san never told me he had a daughter!" he muttered bewilderedly.

Asuka looked amused. "Why would he?" she asked.

"I… don't know, really. A lot of adults like to talk about their kids back in Ko… where I lived." Naruto left out the name of his previous village, to spite it.

"Oh, they do that here, too. Dad's always been the odd one out. Now, why are you here, in my spot?"

The blonde stared at her. "_Your _spot? Well excuuuuse me, but this is a _public_ library. I have as much right to sit here and read as you do to sleep with a stuffed animal."

Left eye twitching, Asuka ruffled in her pockets and pulled out a piece of paper, which contained a small note and a signature. "See this? I have priority over anyone else in the library, including _you._ Dad said so."

Mouth opening and closing without sound, he stood up in rage. "Fine, I'll go bother Katsu-san for priority!" He ran off before Asuka could say another word.

'_Sheesh, he's so troublesome…_'

* * *

**Streets of Iwagakure: Mid Morning**

Naruto moved quickly through the dirt-paved streets, sidestepping and dodging civilians moving the opposite way, so that he could hurry up to the Tsuchikage tower. One certain adult came in too fast, knocking the poor boy to his feet. "Ow! Watch where you're going!" he yelled.

"Oh, so _that's_ where you are, Naruto." Said blonde looked up to see the grinning face of Dainadare Katsu. "I've been looking for you. Finally found a sensei to train you."

All thoughts of priority wiped from his mind, Naruto shot up to his feet. "What, really? Who?"

Coughing, Katsu calmed the boy down with a wave of his hand. "Really now, no need to get so excited just yet. Let me introduce to you, your private tutor Ishishou Kouryou, one of the best Jounin in the village and served in the Iwa-Konoha war many years ago."

"Yo." A man in his late thirties appeared behind Katsu. He had medium length brown hair, black eyes, a blue bandana in place of a hitai-ate, and two scars on his right cheek. The man wore a standard Jounin uniform, his hitai-ate hanging off of an equipment belt. On his back were two large crescent-moon shaped scythes, connected with rope to his backside. "Is this the kid I'm supposed to train?" he drawled. He then crouched down so that his head was on level with Naruto's. "Hey there. I may look carefree, but you'd better watch yourself little man, because I'm going to train you to your grave."

Naruto grinned widely. "Bring it on, old man!" he yelled. "I'll take anything on to become a shinobi!" Kouryou sweatdropped; he wasn't old… was he?

Shaking off the thoughts, he stood up again. "Well…" Kouryou looked at a piece of paper. "…Naruto, I will be expecting great things from you. Training starts tomorrow at 4AM sharp, at Training Ground 3." He then handed the blonde a different piece of paper. "This here, is the map, showing how to get there from your current house."

"What if I'm late, Kou-sensei?" Naruto shot the question out.

Said man stopped, thinking over the new nickname. '_I like it…_' Turning around, he gave Naruto a death glare. "_IF _you're late? _IF_ you're late, I'll make you run around Iwagakure FIVE HUNDRED TIMES, or until you drop dead. But that's only _IF_ you're late."

Knees shaking, Naruto nodded furiously. '_Note to self, don't be late._'

Kou, who had adopted his new nickname with evident glee, walked away after scaring the daylights out of his soon to be student. '_I wonder what to teach him first…_' he thought as he turned a corner. A certain orange colored novel caught his eye. '_Ooh, a new volume…_'

Meanwhile, Naruto was trudging back to the library. Once inside and after having checked that Asuka wasn't there, he sat at his old spot to continue reading. '_Let's see… Tsuchi no Kuni's geography… Although it is named the Country of the Earth, there are abundant sources of water, as all countries possess, in different forms. For Iwagakure, water existed in the form of mountain lakes and streams, as well as small pockets of water near plateaus._' Putting the book away, he picked out another. '_Geography is boring. This book is called introduction to basic Doton type techniques… Sweet!_'

Hand moving to open it, someone else suddenly snatched the book out of his hands. "Who the hell?" he yelled, jumping to his feet quickly. Spinning around, he could see the distinct grin of the devil; Dainadare Asuka was back to torment him. "What do _you_ want?"

"Thanks for finding this book for me," she said sweetly. "I've been looking for it nearly all day." Naruto ground his teeth in frustration. "Just you wait, Kou-sensei will make me stronger than you!"

"Kou-sensei?"

Noting her confusion, Naruto grinned. "You know, Kouryou-san? His nickname is Kou-sensei. He's going to be my _private_ tutor."

"What? I never got a private tutor! I got stuck with a lazy-ass genin team!" Pouting, Asuka made a mental note to complain to her father about unfairness. In her moment of distraction, Naruto took the book and ran away, leaving a bewildered Asuka staring at his back for five seconds… "HEY, GIVE THAT BACK!"

In the head start he had gotten, he quickly ripped another book off a shelf and switched the covers on the two books. Turning around, he chucked the 'jutsu' book at Asuka, whose face nearly connected with the flying object. "Bastard, watch where you throw things!" Naruto gaped at her use of language.

"You're a naughty girl, Asuka. You shouldn't say bad words like that."

Blowing a raspberry, she turned around and walked to a corner to read. Snickering, Naruto quickly ran to the front of the library and checked out the book. Asuka, finding out his deception, yelled in frustration and anger, her rapid movement growing louder. Taking the book, he fled the building and ran for his life. Checking behind him, he could see Asuka also exiting the library and catching sight of him.

'_Oh dammit all, if she catches me, I'm _doomed'

"I'll give you one minute to give me that book!" she screeched.

Running as fast as his little legs could take him, he turned left, right, left, left again, each time hearing Asuka hot on his trail, and entered Machi no Tsuchi, the final stretch. Speeding down the road, he could hear the redhead pulling out a kunai. Knowing she wouldn't risk killing him, he ran faster still, until he finally reached his four-story house. Climbing quickly up the wall, he pushed himself onto a windowsill on the second floor and fumbled with his keys.

Asuka by that time, was also climbing up the wall, kunai in her mouth, and latched onto the windowsill just as Naruto opened the lock and dived into the open window. Staggering onto his feet like a crazed maniac, he leapt to the window, slamming it shut and locking it again using his key. Outside, an enraged Asuka slammed the window repeatedly with her fists for several minutes, until she finally gave up.

Miming herself cutting his throat, she jumped off of the windowsill and stalked away in a terrible anger. After making sure she had left, Naruto sighed in relief and slumped onto the floor, leanining against a wall. '_That was too close..._'

Staring at the ceiling, he thought to himself, '_What did I ever do to deserve this?_' Soon, the blonde had drifted into a deep sleep, the several days of hyperactivity finally taking a toll on his body.

* * *

**Training Grounds 3 – Iwagakure: Dawn **

Naruto stumbled into the training grounds to find that Kou was already waiting for him. The brown haired man spread out his arms in greeting. "Welcome, Naruto. Today begins your first day of _hell._ Any questions?"

Naruto stared at the man who had scared him into waking up at four in the morning, then at his surroundings. The area had no forests like Konoha did. Instead, there were masses of small bushes that dotted the area and a dozen or so dead trees, giving the place a slightly green tinge, contrasting to the dark brown of the barren floor. Comforted that there were still plants in Tsuchi no Kuni, he answered Kou's question.

"Even if I had any questions, I'm too sleepy to think of them," Naruto grumbled. Kou shrugged, and pulled out a scroll.

"So… what do you know about chakra?" he asked. Naruto rifled through his memories of the previous day, bringing up the information as well as the terror.

"Chakra is created when you convert a combination of physical and mental stamina, into chakra… Stamina can be converted to chakra, but not vice versa. It is imperative for all shinobi to develop proper chakra control, so that chakra is used efficiently and is not wasted," Naruto recited straight from the book.

"Very good," Kou commented, "but do you know what it actually means?" Naruto shook his head.

Thinking for a bit, Kou came up with a bright idea. "Okay, when you eat ramen, what happens?"

"It makes me not hungry anymore," Naruto said immediately.

"It also restores energy," Kou explained. "Now pretend that ramen is physical energy. When you run, you use that energy to do physical energy. When you study, you turn that energy into mental energy, so that you can read and memorize, get it?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, understanding quite easily thanks to the ramen comparison.

"That's enough bookwork for today. Over the years, I'll stuff in lots of information, and it's good to learn a bit everyday and apply it during that day's training to truly memorize it. Now, let's go eat ramen, my treat."

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto scrutinized Kou carefully. "What's the catch?" the attentive blonde asked.

"Just as I explained, you will eat ramen, restore energy, and then I'll force you to do grueling physical exercises," Kou announced cheerfully and bluntly.

Naruto deadpanned, knowing he couldn't avoid the physical exercise whether he ate or not. So, he decided to choose the lesser of two evils, by eating ramen with the training, opposed to just the training. "Alright Kou-sensei, you're going to have to bring a bit of money with you!" Naruto shouted as he ran for Ichiganmi.

'_Smart kid… He knew I would force him to work anyway…_' After making sure the blonde was gone, he turned around and began browsing through his wallet. '_Now let's just hope I have enough to pay for this…_'

Using a well-timed **Shunshin no Jutsu**, Kou arrived at the same time that Naruto did, to the blonde's displeasure. "You're so _lazy_, Kou-sensei!" Naruto chided. "How can you tell me to exercise when all you do to move around is using that jutsu?"

Kou sweatdropped, but distracted Naruto with a well placed "Oh look, it's a fifty percent sale at Ichiganmi, and it ends in two hours!" Naruto whirled around and rushed into the ramen stand, intent on getting as best a deal on ramen as he could. '_He's so predictable like that,_' Kou thought cheerfully. '_I'll have to _kill_ that part of him during training._'

Naruto slurped up bowl after bowl, and Kou watched in increasing interest at the stack of porcelain. '_How does the boy eat so much...?_' he wondered, as he had only eaten three to Naruto's seventeen. During Naruto's twenty-second bowl, Academy Team 4 entered the ramen stand, with Ichigo at the lead.

"Yo Naruto, how's it going?" he called to the blonde.

"You're here pretty early," Shou mumbled. Yumi glanced cautiously at the teetering stack of bowls and decided to sit next to Kou, where she believed it would be safer. Ichigo, just as clueless as Naruto, sat next to the blonde and began slurping up ramen and doing an insane act; stacking his bowls on top of Naruto's.

Shou stared at the increasing tower, and decided that it was safer if he stayed outside the stand. Meanwhile, Ichigo had finished another bowl and sent it to the top when… "AVALANCHE!" one man screamed as the tower began tilted and fell, toppling over two dozen bowls towards the occupants of the stand.

In a flash, Kou was out of his seat and grabbing bowls with his two hands and head, stacking all the fallen bowls into three piles. "You've got to be careful there Naruto," he reprimanded.

'_Does that mean he'll stop him from stacking those bowls?_' another man thought hopefully. "If those bowls broke, I would've had to pay for them." Deadpanning, the customers returned to their own bowls, while Naruto left with Kou after happily saying his goodbyes.

"That ramen really hit the spot," Naruto sighed contently. '_It also really hit my wallet, as a matter of fact,_' Kou thought.

The two returned to Training Grounds 3, to begin 'grueling physical exercise'. "Firstly, I will tell you why physical training is so important," Kou began explaining. "Physical training helps to improve your stamina, which technically also means that you improve your chakra reserves. It increases your strength, in physical attributes and in ninjutsu, and it increases your speed, which also helps in hand seal making and taijutsu."

Naruto listened in rapt attention, his brain soaking up all the information so that he didn't need to relearn anything and waste precious training time by studying. "Your first task… for the day… is to run around Iwagakure four times." Naruto's jaw dropped, but that wasn't the end. "You will be running while I throw shuriken and kunai at you. You _must_ dodge the weapon completely, or you will be forced to start the lap over."

'_This guy… he's evil!_' Naruto thought in dread. "You also have a set time limit of two hours. For every half hour past that, you have to run an extra lap." Naruto wailed mentally, punishing himself for letting Kou convince him into this training regime. Kou threw a kunai at Naruto's feet, causing the blonde to jump in surprise. "What the hell was that for?" he asked. "Hurry up and start running, or I'll have to _encourage_ you," Kou drawled.

Muttering under his breath about demon senseis, Naruto set off running. Kou watched the back of the retreating blonde and smirked as he pulled out several kunai. '_Oh, this will be _fun.'

* * *

**Walls of Iwagakure: Early Morning**

Naruto was afraid, that was for sure. '_I'm on my second lap, but where's Kou-sensei? He said he was going to throw kunai at me…_' This peace only served to make the blonde more paranoid, constantly whirling his head to look for unseen kunai.

He continued running through the barren wastelands that were the outside of the Iwagakure walls. Once more, he whirled around, this time to see a kunai flying at him. "Uwah!" he yelled, as he threw himself to the side. A fizzle sounded and Naruto looked back to see an ignited exploding tag on the kunai. '_Aw shi-_' **BOOOOM!** The blonde was sent tumbling three meters sliding on the rough floor. "Too bad Naruto, you have to start over," Kou shouted from his perch on a tree.

"WHAT!? YOU NEVER SAID YOU WERE USING EXPLOSIVE KUNAI!" Naruto screamed back.

"They're still kunai aren't they? Stop complaining and start running!"

Gritting his teeth, Naruto began running again, and sure enough, halfway on the restarted lap, the sound of another kunai met his ears. This time, Naruto surged forward, intent on leaving the kunai stuck in the ground. Alas, that was not meant to be, as the kunai clipped his shoulders, surprising him.

"What the hell?" he asked in disbelief. '_I was so sure I was going to dodge that!_'

"I was leading you!" Kou called from the wall. "You're going to have be more unpredictable; or else you'll never finish this exercise!" Naruto got up and started again. When another kunai was heard coming, Naruto surged forward yet again, but adding an extra sidestep. This time, the kunai missed him by two inches, hitting the ground in front of him.

'_Yes! All I have to do now is start dodging randomly._' Meanwhile, Kou was impressed. '_Most of the time, the person will do the same maneuver again, thinking that I'll think they'll perform a different one… this boy is quite the interesting one._' Flipping out three explosive kunai, he grinned maliciously. '_This is overkill, but it's really fun._'

As Kou threw, Naruto began zigzagging, hoping to dodge the kunai. A tingling in his neck caused Naruto to throw himself to the right, dodging one. He began running again, his ears picking up several more on their way. **BOOOOM! **The kunai he had dodged earlier blew up, making Naruto run faster still. '_He's _crazy!' He stopped suddenly, causing the kunai to miss by an entire four feet. Naruto backed up quickly, as another explosion rocked the floor. **BOOOOM! **Starting up again, Naruto's now attuned ears heard another kunai heading towards him. '_This is ridiculous. He's throwing kunai at me like no tomorrow!_' Taking out a kunai he had found on his door that morning (courtesy of Asuka), he whirled around and in blind faith, threw it at where the sound seemed to be coming from. **BOOOOM!**

Kou nodded approvingly. '_That kid… he's predictable about ramen, but when it comes to his antics in dodging, he's quite unpredictable. Imagine, being able to shoot an explosive kunai out of the sky like that._' He smiled to himself. '_Maybe this kid is actually worth training…_'

* * *

**Walls of Iwagakure: Early Afternoon**

Naruto laid gasping on the floor back at the training grounds, his lungs burning and legs feeling like gelatin. Kou jumped down from the wall, with a wide grin on his face. "Congratulations! You're the first to finish the course within four hours." Naruto looked warily at his new sensei. "Why's that?"

"Every other student I took thought that they could outsmart me; a Jounin. _You_ on the other hand, knew that I wouldn't let you get away too easily, and was always a step ahead, thinking of a new way to dodge. Of course, you still had to run a few extra laps because I held you up too long." Naruto stared at the blue sky, the clouds lazily moving across the huge expanse.

"Naruto, take a fifteen minute break. We'll begin the next exercise then." With that, Kou leaned against a tree and flipped out the orange book that he had bought the previous day.

The blonde took the break to ponder on some thoughts. '_Will this training really make me strong? Will I have lots of friends? What will the next exercise be? I wish I was faster…_' In what felt like two minutes, the break was over and Kou was standing over him. "The next exercise will be taijutsu training."

He pointed Naruto towards a meter high training post that stood about ten meters away. Naruto noticed that it had not been there during the morning.

"I want you to hit that post as hard as you can, so I can evaluate your strength."

Naruto crawled onto his feet at a snail's pace, his legs still extremely tired from the previous exercise. Standing next to the block of wood, he held up his fist and primed himself. Yelling out a battle cry, he pulled back and let his fist go, slamming into the center of the post. "GYAAH!" Naruto yelled in pain. Hopping around like a mad bunny, he tried to suppress the pain from the sore fist. "What the hell did you do to that training post!?"

Kou smiled cheekily, adding to Naruto's frustration. "I didn't do anything to the post. You're just _weak_."

Charging forward, Naruto attempted to smack Kou, but the tall man's arms were too long, and kept him at a distance. "I was just kidding, Naruto, geez," he grumbled. "The post is chakra-enhanced, and the only way to actually do damage is to perform chakra-enhanced punches."

Naruto cocked his head in confusion. "Chakra-enhanced punches? How would I do _that_?"

"I'll leave that for you to learn yourself," Kou told the blonde. "You never learn anything without going through the hardships of perfection. Before thirty days' time, I want you to be able to turn this post into nothing but sawdust and woodchips, am I clear?"

"Yessir, Kou-sensei!" Naruto yelled. "Sadistic bastard," he muttered under his breath.

Kou glared at Naruto. "Enough idle chit-chat. I want you to kick that post one-thousand times with each leg, and punch it one-thousand-five-hundred times with each fist. Finish before sundown, go!" When Naruto didn't move fast enough, he pulled out one of his crescent scythes and threw it, missing Naruto by an inch. "Get going, or I'll have to _motivate_ you."

Annoyed and scared at the same time, Naruto double-timed his way to the post and began his exercises. '_Just pretend the post is Kou-sensei... one kick to Kou... two kicks to Kou... three kicks to Kou..._'

* * *

**Walls of Iwagakure: Sundown**

'_One-thousand-four-hundred-nintey-eight punches to the damned asshole Kou... one-thousand-four-hundred-ninety-nine punches to the damned bastard Kou... one-thousand five-hundred punches to the DAMNED BASTARD!_' Naruto fumed inwardly. Being forced to do the sheer amount of kicks and punches were infuriating. '_I bet he _never_ had to do this as a genin_,' Naruto thought.

"You're done?" Kou asked as he dropped down from his comfortable seat in the tree branches. "Well, that's enough physical training for today. The schedule is as such: One week is taijutsu, one week is genjutsu and bookwork, and one week is ninjutsu and chakra control. Any questions?" Hearing none, he smiled lightly and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a parting call. "I'll see you tomorrow at four in the morning, heheheh..."

Shocked into inactivity, Naruto collapsed onto the floor. '_I... can't move, heheh,_' he thought. '_So... tired..._'

A shuffling noise alerted him to a nearby presence, but unfortunately, he still couldn't move. "It's probably just a wild animal," he muttered aloud. "I'm safe as can be."

"What makes you say that?" someone whispered evilly. Naruto's mouth dropped in horror. "Don't tell me..." Strugging onto his feet, he saw a figure about four meters away.

"You know, I have to still take that book back from you, _blondy_," Asuka growled. She stepped forward menacingly, a kunai in either hand. "Don't make me take it through force."

A sudden burst of energy in his legs surprised the blonde. "**Run, kid.**" Disregarding the totally random voice, but heeding its advice, he immediately bolted at top speed, his legs powered by some unknown strength. '_If I can just make it to my house like last time, I'll be home free!_' A kunai whizzed through the air, missing him by six inches. '_God dammit, she's becoming violent now!_' More energy entered Naruto's legs, letting him run faster, eventually outrunning the psychotic redhead of a genin. By the time he reached Machi no Tsuchi, he couldn't see her at all.

'_One day, I'll find out why she's so crazy..._' Naruto thought tiredly. He opened the door to the house and lurched inside like a drunkard. Sitting down against the hall, he groaned in annoyance. '_Gah... so hungry... so tired... Damn that-_' "Zzzzzzzzz" And just like that, Uzumaki Naruto fell asleep in mid thought. One would have believed that a ghost lived in the house, what with the screaming caused by Naruto's nightmares, often involving Asuka, kunai, and... training posts?

* * *

There's quite a bit of time changing, but it's still over the course of two days, so I think it's at a normal pace. I'm sorry if the chapter seems a bit short or rushed, because indeed, I did rush it. I wanted to hurry up and finish the chapter so it wouldn't burn my conscience. I'm sorry the chapter took so long to complete, but I was holed up with a lot of stuff, including as you remember, a computer crash. Everything's fixed, except for the damned volume control, and I have time to write now. Wish me luck in writing Black Lightning! Look out for the next chapter of Tsuchi no Kuni. 

Chapter 3: Beginnings - Genjutsu

**Question** _&_ Answer

**Shouldn't Shikato have gone to tell the Hokage before helping Naruto to run away?** Let's just say that I'll fill in the plot hole during the next chapter, heheh. Or I might just go back and change it, but that's way too troublesome.

**Will you pair Naruto with Yumi? Who is Naruto going to be paired with? **I dont know. -Evil smile-. Most of the time, I introduce _several_ females, and you all get confuzzled about who I'm going to pick, BWAHAHAHA! All I know is that if I ever choose for him to pair with someone, it'll most definitely be an OC.

**Naruto won't know Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, will he?** Not really, unless he's specifically taught it by a Konoha shinobi/nukenin.

**Why do all the Kage's in the fanfics want Naruto to become a weapon? **Katsu: I think of him more as a very, very valuable shinobi. Much like how Arashi or Kakashi was in Konoha. And yes, I was on first name terms with the Yondaime. Bet you never knew that, DID YOU?? HAH!

**Vocabulary**

Ichiraku – Place of comfort (Check?)

Ichiganmi – Place of taste (Check?)

**Dainadare** _Asuka_ – **Great Avalanche** _Tomorrow Fragrance_

**Ishishou **_Kouryou _– **Stone Master (Ishishou or Ishishishou?) **_Hidden Genius _

**Jutsu List**

**Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) S-Rank – Ninjutsu employed by the Yondaime Hokage, or the Yellow Flash, the user performs something similar to the Kuchiyose, summoning himself to another position. Used with the special summoning seals on the Yondaime's special kunai. Hiraishin can also be accomplished by marking a spot with a chakra line, but this takes a considerable amount of chakra. To the naked eye, the enemy only sees the user as a flash of light, before they are cut down.**


	4. Genjutsu Training and a Sleepover

**Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Naruto, though if I did, that would kick ass!**

**Code: Kick whose ass?**

**-sweat … drop-**

**Naruto Shippuuden: Tsuchi no Kuni**

Chapter 3: Beginnings - Genjutsu

**Author: **I've decided to keep the little setting stuff at the end of a (hr) to a minimum. That leaves me to write in the setting more specifically in the story. On another note, I've removed the little stats thing at the top. It's quite the annoying thing to update, and I'd rather want a disclaimer with witty stuff up there. Also, I'll only be bolding jutsu that are used in combat.

* * *

Sunlight streamed through four windows, two on one wall, and one on each of the walls to either side of the first wall, illuminating the room with the brand new morning's light. One window slightly ajar, the soft singing of birds wafted in, hanging in the air melodiously. Although Iwagakure had very few birds, or even non-human life for that matter, it was here in Machi no Tsuchi that the majority of plant life and animal life could be found. Awakened by the light splashing across his face, Uzumaki Naruto yawned widely, stretching his currently short arms high above his head. His unfocused eyes took in the room naturally, not noticing one peculiar thing… 

Sighing, he mumbled, "I never thought that sleeping would feel so… heavenly," and smiled widely, but tiredly, at the reminder of the wonderful sleep he had. If only he didn't have to wake up so early, life would be the best.

Never before in his life had he been taxed so greatly as he had been the previous week, with his new sensei. Well, that was over exaggerating, as he had never actually spent even one day training, so he had nothing to compare it to. Ignoring that fact, he still had pains in his legs. He had pains in the rest of his body, but his legs hurt the most, as he had been forced to go through endurance exercises more often than taijutsu training. He glanced slowly at the digital clock sitting on a bedside drawer to his immediate left, taking in its presence, but not the time itself.

'_Wait a minute... since when did I have a clock there?_' the blonde soon realized.

Looking down, he found himself on a (quite comfy) bed. Saying it was merely a bed was an understatement. Naruto had never seen such a large piece of furniture, unless you counted the dining table that Sandaime had in his house, or otherwise mansion, Naruto would call it. It had been what, eight feet wide and twelve feet long? The bed he was currently on was slightly smaller than that, but still, very huge for a bed, considering Naruto's height of 4'1".

Looking around, he found himself in a bedroom. The floor was a soft, white, velvety rug, which looked to be very comfortable to stand on. The walls were painted a bright goldenrod color, the sunlight shining on the bright-colored paint, creating an atmosphere of happiness inside the room. The color yellow always seemed to be a happy color, in his opinion. The only pieces of furniture in the room were two bedside drawers, which had two small drawers and a single large one, with one on each side of the bed and made of what seemed to be mahogany, the digital clock, and the bed itself.

'_Damn... last week I kept falling asleep as soon as I got into the hallway because I was so tired… but I actually made it to the bedroom yesterday._'

Shrugging off the feelings of anxiety that had attacked him when he discovered that he was in a strange and foreign room, he once again glanced lazily at the clock, having ignored the time earlier. The bright red numbers of 5:56 blinked slowly on the screen, as if it knew that Naruto was tired and couldn't focus on something blinking quickly.

"..." Naruto nodded to himself and turned to get out of bed. Suddenly, he realized the predicament he was currently in, and what it meant for him.

"HOLY MOTHER FREAKING SHIT! I'M GOING TO BE LATE!" he screamed.

Getting out of bed so quickly that a bystander could swear that he was flying, had there been one in the first place, Naruto bolted into the bathroom and brushed his teeth maniacally with one hand, while attempting to pull on his clothes with the other. This of course, ended in obvious disaster. It turned out that brushing your teeth while hopping on one leg wasn't the smartest of things to do, especially in a bathroom whose floor was made entirely of granite - Hard, stony, granite.

Losing his balance, the agonized blonde waved his arms wildly through the air, vainly trying to stay on his feet. If only he had remembered that the foot he had been trying to pull his pants on, was already clear.

"Guh!"

Naruto painfully got up, rubbing his sore nose all the while. Thankfully, he had had the sense to spit out his toothbrush before the inevitable crash. Not doing so would've made him end up in a place that Naruto disliked greatly: the hospital. Grateful that at least the granite stone wasn't as hard as the previous day's training post, he stood up completely when his previous thought reminded him of his peril. Discarding the hygiene utensil and throwing on the rest of his clothes in a craze, he dashed out to look at the clock one last time.

The numbers 6:01 blinked glaringly at his slack-jawed face.

'_I...I'm so screwed,_' he thought, coming to a realization. '_Oh god, I wonder what Kou-sensei will do to me!_'

The blonde raced out of the house, his mind ablaze with images of torture and deadly weaponry. Before he could move more than ten steps though, a raging killer intent blasted its way to him.

'_Damn... he's really quick..._'

Leaping immediately to his left, he managed to avoid becoming skewered by the dozen or so shuriken that flew from a nearby rooftop. Sweating profusely now, Naruto shot through the streets like a bullet, intending on escaping to some form of safety – it didn't matter _what_ it was, as long as he was safe. Maybe he would be forgiven if he ran to the training grounds? Maybe.

Taking hold of this thin straw of hope, he sidestepped a kunai and turned right at the corner at the end of his street. Another whizzing noise alerted him to yet another assault... but this one sounded different. Straining his ears, Naruto attempted to discern the difference. When he turned to face the noise, and finally realized what it was, he ran for his life, as if a demon was chasing after him, intent on outrunning what he had just heard. Naruto glanced another look behind him, and could still see the homing kunai flying straight at him, avoiding all bystanders, its sight trained solely on him.

'_Shit! Is he crazy!?_'

Turning abruptly at a corner, he hoped the kunai would follow the shortest path to reach him, and thus hit the building. No such luck there. As it turned out later, Kou had been guiding the kunai while watching him. A sudden idea struck the boy. Naruto rushed to the nearest store, which was a mile away, with all his might. The kunai, of course, was still trailing him, but now he had a foolproof plan against it. Catching sight of said shop a few minutes later, Naruto dove through the doorway and slammed the door shut, and just in time. The kunai drove straight through the wooden, getting stuck in the process. Sighing in relief, he went out through the backdoor, courtesy of the shop owner, and continued his merry way to the training grounds.

That is, he would have had he not heard the same noises. Yes,_ noises_, as in plural. Taking the courage to look behind himself once more, he saw five kunai hovering over the ground, pointed straight at him, daring him to try that stunt again.

He stuck out his middle finger with a shout of "Eat shit, you sadistic bastard!" knowing Kou would see, and shot off towards the training grounds.

* * *

Kou glared pointedly at the entrance to the training grounds. As he had predicted, Naruto came stumbling in thirty seconds later, a pained look on the normally happy face. A face that only seemed happy on the outside, he knew. He collapsed onto the earthen floor, his chest heaving and breath erratic. 

Grunting, he stood up from his seat and walked over to the unmoving blonde that lay on the floor. He tried kicking the boy in the side a bit, but to no avail. Poking, tickling, and yelling in his ear didn't seem to rouse the boy either. This called for _drastic_ measures. Sticking his two index fingers in his mouth, his tongue rolled over them a few times before he withdrew the now wet fingers. He looked with a bit of regret at his fingers, and pitied Naruto for what he was being forced to do.

'_Sorry kid, but I have to do this._'

Kou took a deep breath, and plunged each of his wet index fingers into either of the blonde's ears.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Naruto's scream of terrible horror rang throughout the area, reaching a distance of three hundred meters before the sound became undistinguishable to untrained ears. Shooting up from his prone position, Naruto shook his finger wildly at the brown-haired Jounin in front of him in disbelief.

"B-Bastard! You gave me a wet-willy!" he half screamed.

Kou smiled lightly, enjoyed both the fact that the blonde was awake, and that he had been very disturbed by the wet-willy.

"Well, you weren't waking up or reacting to whatever I did, so I took it to the extreme," he said, the smile still on his face. "Remember what happened today, before you think twice about being late."

Muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'sadistic old Jounin', Naruto got up and stared expectantly at the brunette. When Kou made no move to do any of the sorts, Naruto kicked the man in the shins. Of course, this did nothing to the mild-pain-immune Jounin. His face scrunched up in a scowl, Naruto repositioned himself to kick the man in the groin. Heaving, he kicked with all his might. Unfortunately for him, Kou caught the attack and glared at the now nervous blonde.

"Don't. target. there, or you _die_," Kou said slowly through clenched teeth. "I was thinking of how to teach you this week's genjutsu training."

Now Naruto felt sheepish. Of course, Kou was an on the spot thinker. While Kou continued thinking, Naruto stared at nature. The sun shone brightly as it continued its rise to the top of the sky, bringing rays of sunlight through the dead and dying trees' branches. Iwagakure wasn't nearly as beautiful as Konohagakure, but there was something different about it. A feeling that made Naruto feel as if he was at home. Crows crossed the cerulean-blue sky, caw-ing every once in a while. Mice scurried through the scarce bushes that dotted the area, occasionally making a bush shake, creating background noise. The wind blew softly onto Naruto's face, the light breeze invigorating him. Yes... this was home...

The peaceful silence was broken by a loud yawn. Naruto turned his head to spy at Kou, the only possible source of the noise. The brunette was currently stretching while wiping away a tear from his left eye.

Sighing, he turned to face the blonde, uttering one sentence. "Okay... today, I'll teach you the basic book definition of genjutsu, and set you through genjutsu cancellation training."

Naruto cocked his head in confusion. "Genjutsu cancellation? What's that? What's it do? Why do I need it? Wha-"

Kou stopped any further questions being asked by raising a palm to Naruto's face. "Stop. I'll teach you everything you need to know, so be patient," he grumbled, obviously troubled. "I'll have you know I'm not that good with genjutsu, so any funny comments will earn you another trip with my friends, the homing kunai. Got it?" he finished menacingly.

Naruto nodded silently, eyes wide with fear. '_I do _not_ want another trip with those guys!_'

"Hmm… I've got the perfect idea," the brunette murmured, before going into seals at high speed. He stopped, but not before the world around them turned black and white.

"This… is the world of genjutsu. It may or may not be realistic; it all depends on how the genjutsu itself works. Genjutsu… is a fabric of reality. Reality as we know it is warped or changed to whatever the user desires. In the world of genjutsu, you are stuck with two choices. Stay and die, or leave and live. It is impossible to leave the reality – only to dispel the illusion that is created to sustain that reality. For example…"

A black and white Naruto appeared next to the normal blonde one, mirroring the surprised expression.

"This is merely a warped reality of yourself, Naruto. I will now teach you how genjutsu works, so listen carefully. Genjutsu is caused when opponents perform a jutsu on you, that will use their own chakra to initiate the genjutsu, but your chakra is sustaining it. When you are under a genjutsu, you will not grow tired. I said that it sustained off of your chakra, but simply, that means that the chakra that is normally supplied to the senses is altered, providing a different image. Because the chakra flowing to the senses are so miniscule compared to the chakra used when performing a jutsu, the affected person's chakra capacity isn't affected in the least."

Naruto nodded rapidly. Some parts he understood, others he didn't. What he knew, simply, was that genjutsu wasn't real, but it affected the senses. But… if it wasn't real, why did ninja have any sort of fear from genjutsu?

"Though it may not be real, as I told you, it affects senses. When your sense of touch is affected, you feel what is in the illusion, whether it is massage or torture. The same can be said for all of the other senses. High-ranked genjutsu takes advantage of the affection of multiple senses, making the affected believe that it is reality, not genjutsu. These genjutsu are dangerous to the victim, but are hard to find as the world is filled seemingly with ninjutsu specialists. Now… let's see…"

The illusionary Naruto punched Naruto in the gut, which caused the blonde to go down, clutching it in pain.

"The pain is real, but only because your mind believes it is. As I said, the chakra in your nervous system is altered, so that when you should feel pain in the illusion, you do. Genjutsu is very dangerous when applied cleverly, and can fell even the most powerful of ninja. Genjutsu cancellation is merely one of three ways to cancel the effects of genjutsu. Listen carefully, because I will only say it once. Genjutsu cancellation occurs when the affected user gathers chakra at the center of their being, concentrating it. Then they say "Kai", releasing the pent up chakra throughout their body and the environment, disrupting the chakra flow to the nervous system and cancelling the genjutsu, because the altered chakra is no longer running through the system."

"What about the other two ways?"

"I'm getting to that, punk. Anyways, the second method is to inflict real pain upon your body. That doesn't mean illusionary pain. Though genjutsu can cause pain, it is only illusionary, and your body only registers it as illusionary, even if it feels real. Therefore, to inflict real pain upon yourself, you need to do so, most commonly with a kunai. Though you may not be moving in reality, you are doing so in your mind, which is the strongest part of a ninja. When you take your own kunai to yourself, because it isn't being afflicted by the illusion, but by yourself, your body will register the pain as real, and this will cause you to release from the genjutsu. The actual process that the pain goes through to do this is too complicated, and I won't tell you that."

Naruto smirked, reading between the lines. From many years of betrayal by adults, he knew what they would mean when they actually said something different.

'_It's because he doesn't _know_ the actual process…_'

"The final method is much simpler. Someone else does the genjutsu cancellation on you. As I said, when they "Kai", it releases chakra throughout your body _and_ environment. Because your body is a part of that 'environment', the chakra disrupts your chakra flow as well. If you aren't under genjutsu, then the chakra release is nigh useless. It only serves to kill you – as it does nothing… Now, I want you to cancel the genjutsu that you are under. Gather the chakra into the center of your own being, and concentrate it. Then, say "Kai", and release it."

"Easier said than done," Naruto grumbled. "I don't even know how to gather chakra into one place, in the first place."

* * *

Shou sat still like a stone, watching the other kids play, while he – the braniac – read a book, leaning against the tree and taking shelter under the shade. It _was_ quite interesting, but seeing the delighted looks on the children's faces when they played with each other… he felt a little envious. He wished that his parents spent more time with him, and less time arguing about the costs of raising a shinobi. The only thing that his dad cared about was the money, and his mom… well; she cared about his well-being. She didn't want him to end up dead during a mission, but she also knew that the money made from being a shinobi was desperately needed. 

Sighing, he flipped a page of his book. Though Ichigo and Naruto were both in the same fruit basket, their company was strangely comforting. Their loud, brash attitude and ramen eating habits reminded him of something he hadn't had in a long time – friends. The two got along so well, even when they had just met. Himself? Well, he'd been a total ass. Shou blamed it partly on the rotten egg that had been dumped onto his head earlier that day.

"What're you reading?"

Craning his head up, he saw Yumi sitting on a tree branch, dangling her legs in the air, and looking down on him. He _hated_ being looked down upon – it made him feel inferior. Nevertheless, she was one of the few people that he could honestly call friends, and wouldn't screw with that.

"The Great Iwa-Konoha War."

"Is it any good?"

"It's pretty interesting, and it beats reading about the accomplishments of some dumb old Shodaime," Shou grumbled.

Yumi stared at the book cover, taking in the name of the author.

"You should read Konoha's side of the war next," she suggested. "Wouldn't it be more interesting to see if the books contradict one another?"

Placing a hand under his chin, he looked thoughtfully at the cloudless sky. Oh, how he wished that there _were_ clouds in the sky.

"That _would_ be interesting, but what I'd like to read is a documentary of the war that is fully truth, and takes both perspectives into account."

"You and your big, fat vocabulary," the blonde grumbled, shaking her head to clear away long words such as 'perspective' and 'documentary'. Setting back into the branch, she placed two arms behind her head and closed her eyes to take a short nap. Her slow, rhythmic breathing was interrupted by…

**BAWUMP!**

A chakra shockwave barreled through the Academy, leaving several temporarily paralyzed, some in shock, and few in dread.

'_There is only one person that I would know that could do such a thing,_' Shou thought in annoyance, '_and that is… Uzumaki-_'

* * *

"-NARUTO!" Kou screamed out. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" 

Indeed, the blonde had dispelled the genjutsu, but also sent his chakra flying like a shockwave to every corner of Iwagakure. Though it had never been done before, Kou suspected that he had gathered too much chakra unknowingly.

'_Or… it could be because of his being a jinchuuriki…_' he mused. '_Whichever one it is, he and I are going to be in a hell of trouble._'

"What am _I_ doing? I'm doing _exactly_ what you told me to do, you idiot!" Naruto yelled back.

"How dare you call me, your teacher, an idiot? Even the most basic Academy students know how much chakra to put into genjutsu cancellation! You act as if you're a civilian!"

"How the hell would _I_ know anything about genjutsu cancellation? I've never been to an Academy!"

Kou cursed before falling silent, muttering, "It's useless trying to argue with an idiotic, loudmouthed brat who still pees in his pants."

"I DO NOT!" the blonde screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Kou. "It's all your fault!"

"SHUT UP!"

Growling in annoyance, Kou turned as an Iwa ANBU platoon dropped down. They looked very similar to Konoha's ANBU, but these men wore brown cloaks, the obvious leader wearing a black-brown cloak. Their masks and cloaks each had an Iwa symbol on the forehead and on each shoulder, distinguishing themselves from other countries' ANBU.

"Kouryou-san, we're here to ask what that shockwave originated from," the captain spoke, walking up to the Jounin.

He gave the blonde one last dirty look before turning to speak in hushed voices with the captain.

"This is _the_ kid, that Yondaime-sama wanted trained. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to control his chakra well, and he concentrated too much of it before performing the genjutsu cancellation."

"I see… very well, we'll report back to Yondaime-sama, and hush up all traces of this ever happening. Try to keep the kid from doing that again, alright?"

Kou nodded, and the ANBU platoon disappeared through the ground, using Iwa's specialized Shunshin. After he was sure they were gone, he whirled around to face the blonde that was currently his student. Gazing into the sapphire orbs of the blonde to see if there was any fear, he was quite disappointed. All he saw was defiance, determination, and a tiny splotch of nervousness, most likely from the memory of the homing kunai. He'd have to remember to use that method more often.

Sighing, Kou craned his neck up, looking at the sky. From the sun's position, he estimated that they had spent quite a while in the fabric of reality. He had _so_ not predicted that. He had thought that he was performing a genjutsu that one could stay in for long periods of time, with little change in reality's time. Instead, it had been the opposite. What seemed a short amount of time in the genjutsu was a long time in reality. Time-distorted genjutsu were _very_ hard to come by, and he _had_ to choose the wrong one, didn't he? Even worse, he could only read up on genjutsu of this level only once a month, and he certainly didn't want to postpone genjutsu training for that long.

"I'll never be using _that_ jutsu ever again," he grumbled.

The sun had shown him that it was sunset; well, you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know a sunset when you see one. Suddenly, a light bulb turned on inside his head. Kou snickered to himself mentally, patting himself – also mentally – on the back.

"Naruto… since we wasted so much time today, how about we do something… more closely linked with relationship-building?"

The blonde cocked his head, not getting at where his sensei was heading. Was he gay? Did he see something that others didn't in children? All of his questions were shattered at the next few sentences.

"Gather that Academy Team 4 that you seem to be friendly with, and tell them there will be a sleepover; at _your_ house. Oh, did I mention that you and they have _no choice in the matter_?"

Naruto stood stock still, staring stupidly at the brunette. His left eye twitched up, partly in anger, partly in denial. He was angry that he was being ordered around like a servant, and in denial that he had no threat on Kou's threat-meter whatsoever. He was slightly relieved that Kou had used the wrong genjutsu, but having a sleepover at his house? That was a no-no.

"You're high, aren't you?" the blonde accused.

Kou stared at Naruto, before pushing the blonde over with his foot and stomping on his head painfully. That was, of course, enough to get the point across.

"I am _not_ high. Go _now_, before I sick the homing kunai on you again."

All that was left of the blonde was a dust cloud, Naruto's retreating figure easily distinguishable from the barren land.

'_Now… if only I could use scare tactics like that on his little friends… but then, I'd get screwed over by their parents… Ah well, no love lost._'

* * *

Ichigo was sound asleep on his red, plush couch, with all of the blinds closed. That day's Academy work had been grueling; they had read a book all day. Not bothering to enter his bedroom, or even greet his parents and younger sister, he had collapsed onto the red piece of furniture and fallen asleep immediately. A happy family of four, the rest of his family understood the difficulties of ninja training, and left him to sleep. 

**Ding, dong.**

The doorbell rang loudly, the noise reverberating throughout the small, one story house. Naruto looked at the building with complete interest; it was an ordinary beige shade on the outside, which looked surprisingly like a brand new coating, though he wondered what colors they used on the inside. The shingles on the roof looked like all the others though; bleached brown. One story, it wasn't very much distinguishable from the other houses on the avenue, other than the fact that there was a huge, inflatable shuriken on the front lawn. Very much _unlike_ the other houses, the lawn was a bright green, which reminded him of Konoha. It seemed that they had enough spending money to water their lawn daily, whereas their neighbors pinched their pennies to hopefully move elsewhere.

Finding Academy Team 4's addresses had been very troublesome, and he hoped that Ichigo wasn't dead asleep, or out of the house. First, he had gone to Katsu's personal secretary, who was coincidentally sick on the day that he had arrive, and bothered her continuously until she finally caved in and gave him the Academy's roster. Unfortunately, Shou's address had been unlisted, and Ichigo's address had been entered incorrectly, thus leading to a false location. After asking the resident of said wrong address, he had obtained the Shinseikoujo's street and house number.

As for Shou's address… well, he had asked Katsu himself, demanding the broody boy's location. Though particularly annoyed at the untimely intrusion of his early-evening nap, Katsu had given Naruto what he had came for, so that the blonde would be off of his back. He _had_ taken a liking to the boy, but sometimes he became a little too much for the slowly aging Tsuchikage.

The door opened quickly, revealing a haggard looking man with bright orange hair. His beard signified that he hadn't shaved in some time, and the expression on the man's face revealed something about his sleeping patterns; that he did _not_ like being disturbed. The man's face was set into what seemed a permanent scowl, which deepened as he recognized the _new friend_ that Ichigo had been spouting on about. Personally, Shinseikoujo Takeshi was not one who liked ramen. He endured his own son's ramen eating habits, but he had to put down the line at making a friend who was as much a ramen addict as his orange-haired son was.

"What do you want, ramen-breath?"

"I'm here to see-" Naruto cut short as the insult registered inside his brain. "What did you just say?"

"Didn't you hear?" Takeshi drawled. "I said, what do you want, ramen-breath?"

Naruto turned to face away from the orange-haired monstrosity, his eyes flaming with YOUTH, err, anger. Veins appeared on his forehead as he swung around and thrust a clenched fist into the air.

"If you are indeed Shinseikoujo Ichigo's father, then _shame on you_ for defiling the awesome nature of ramen!" he said, very loudly.

Takeshi deadpanned at the reaction to his earlier comment. This kid brought obsession to a new level…

"Look here kid, I never liked ramen. Don't ask why, but my son does. As a matter of fact, he's sleeping right now. Why are you here?"

Naruto shuffled his feet on the concrete, thinking of a way to put this gently.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My sensei said that Ichigo _has_ to come to a sleepover at my house, or he'll sick me with homing kunai."

Staring at the blonde, something clicked at the back of Takeshi's mind.

"Don't tell me that your sensei is Ishishou Kouryou," he said carefully.

"Uh, then I _won't_ tell you."

"I will _not_ allow my son to go to a sleepover when that… that sadist is with him!" Takeshi growled. "The last time my family met him, my poor daughter Haru couldn't sleep for three days!"

'_Whoa, I knew he was sadistic, but this was a new piece of information,_' Naruto thought. '_I have _got_ to find out what he did to make her unable to sleep._'

"Wait a second… how do you even _know_ Kou-sensei?

"Oh… I'm a shinobi, and I get a mission every now and then, but mostly I'm with my family. Yondaime-sama is really understanding."

Takeshi then delved into his story, if you could call it.

"It was one day, that I returned from a mission. Kouryou and two others made up our platoon, and our mission was successful. At the gates, my little Haru ran out to greet me, when Kouryou got a weird look in his eyes. I didn't trust that look, but didn't pay much attention to it, as most of it was focused on my daughter. She asked what the mission was like, and that was when Kouryou got to her. He placed a genjutsu before I could stop him, and showed him what happened on our mission, with extreme exaggeration of course. With all the blood and death, Haru couldn't sleep for three days, until I told her that what Kouryou did was a joke, and that that would never happen."

Naruto sweatdropped – Yes… that was the sadistic sensei that he trained under, most definitely.

"Please, I can't leave without Ichigo, he'll _kill_ me!" he begged, groveling on the doormat.

"…"

Takeshi stared at the pitiful sight before him. A half-sobbing blonde ramen-loving boy was groveling at his feet and begging to let his son go to a sleepover, which would be entertaining a sadist. Oh, how he wished that the kid wasn't crying; he hated it when kids cried, because he couldn't do much else other than to let them do what they wanted to do.

"What's all the damned racket?" Ichigo grumbled as he sidled up next to his father.

"Ichigo, watch your mouth. You know how your mother gets when she hears you using profane language."

Yawning, he waved away the comment.

"Yeah, yeah, old man. Who cares? Now, what's with all the ruckus?"

"Your _friend_ here, says that he _needs_ you to go to his sleepover, but I said-"

"What? _Sleepover_? I'm in!" Ichigo shouted before disappearing to pack his stuff.

Takeshi sighed in depression. No one ever listened to him anymore… at least, no one other than his sweet little Haru.

Grudgingly, he let Ichigo go to Naruto's sleepover, with a single warning.

"If Kouryou looks like he's going to do something strange, run. Ichigo, run for your life, do you understand?"

The orange-haired Academy student nodded his head rapidly in obedience before walking out the door to walk with Naruto to the next house. Fukyuubi Yumi, the female of Academy Team 4, was next on their list. Naruto prayed to the heavens that she'd be able to come, while his mind entertained thoughts of fleeing the dreaded kunai. That reminded him…

"Hey Ichigo," Naruto said as they were walking down the street, "I want to go over to your house sometime. I've been wondering what it's like inside, and what your family's like."

His ramen-addicted friend shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"It's nothing _special_, if you ask me. We're pretty much like every other family, except that we choose to live somewhere smaller than a normal ninja's house."

"Why's that?"

"Less room, more family intimacy, more or less fights, depending on the mood. It's quite enjoyable to be in such a situation, if you ask me. The only part I don't like is the times that my sister harangues me."

Naruto stared at the orange boy blankly, processing the new information.

"You don't even know what harangue means, do you?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"Then don't use it, Ichigo."

Silence ensued as the two boys turned corner after corner, intent on reaching both Shou and Yumi's houses before darkness arrived.

"Ichigo… do you share a bedroom?"

"…Yeah, with my sister. She's annoying as hell. Still, she _is _my sister, and I live with it. Sometimes she's annoying; sometimes she's as sweet as an angel. Her mood swings so much, I think of her as a sort of… seesaw."

"Hey Ichigo, we're here."

Yumi's house, like Ichigo's, looked like an average house, without the green lawn and inflatable shuriken. It was two stories in height, but made up for the extra height with less area. The brown shingles were all slightly bleached from constant exposure to the sun, just like every other house in Iwagakure, and the outside of the house was a bleached white, also from overexposure. Definitely needed a new paint job. The concrete path leading up to the door was cracked in many places, but did not seem much of a hindrance. That reminded Naruto, why were the streets dirt, but the pathways to houses were concrete?

Storing the question away, the two young boys walked up to the door. Naruto looked at Ichigo, and Ichigo looked at Naruto.

"You ring the doorbell," they told each other in unison.

"No, you," they said again.

Fuming mentally, Naruto thought up a foolproof plan to find out who would ring the doorbell.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Naruto had a rock, and Ichigo had a paper, meaning that Ichigo had won. Cursing his luck, the blonde trudged up to the door, placing his finger on the doorbell. Hesitating, he looked back at Ichigo, who nodded his head furiously. Praying to the gods that she'd be able to come, he took a deep breath and pressed the button.

"**Ding, dong.**"

The sound of echoing footsteps reached their ears, a voice behind the door yelling, "I'm coming!"

Yumi had been preparing to make a sandwich when the doorbell had rung. Though she had parents, she was pretty much an individual inside the household. Her parents were both successful merchants, whereas she was a kunoichi in training. Because they were often working, Yumi was forced to take care of herself. She opened the door, to see two people that she did _not_ want to see at the moment - Naruto _and_ Ichigo. The blonde had a hopeful look on his face, while her orange-haired teammate just grinned in a mellow fashion. She stared at the two with a questioning gaze, wondering why the hell they were at her house, and so late in the day.

While Yumi stared at them, Naruto stared at the inside of the house. The first room, which was the most he could see at this point, was painted a brilliant goldenrod color, similar to his bedroom. Also similar, was the floor, which was rug. There were three windows, one on each side of the wall, the last side being home to the entrance wall. Sunlight streamed through these windows, illuminating what seemed to be porcelain items, which were sitting on top of a marble table, which was placed at the center of the room. There was a single sofa, on the wall opposite from his position. It was striped with gold and brown, and had room for three. Assuming that the other rooms were similarly fashioned as the first, it seemed that Yumi's family was quite well off, economically speaking.

"What do you want?" she finally asked, her curiosity getting the better of her, also noticing that neither of the two boys were making a motion to begin speaking.

"Ah… I'm here to ask if you want to come over to a sleepover at my house."

Raising an eyebrow, she placed her hands on her hips as she asked, "Why me?"

"Well… you, Ichigo, and Shou are the only kids that I know… excluding the psycho-maniac that tried to kill me. Twice."

'_Psycho-maniac?_' was the thoughts of both of his companions.

"So… I'm thinking that you two aren't leaving my house without me saying that I'll go?

Naruto and Ichigo both nodded.

"Whatever, it'd be too much trouble to get you to go away," she muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Alright, I'll go with you two… just wait a little bit."

She turned around and walked briskly up the stairs, where Naruto supposed that her room was.

"Mom! Dad! I won't be around for dinner tonight! You can eat without me!" she yelled to wherever her parents were, before coming downstairs.

Like Ichigo, but unlike many girls in Konoha, she brought little. Naruto _knew_ she most likely had a lot of things, but suspected that Yumi was a lot more modest and sane than the freaky fangirls and obsessive girls of Konoha. Although… her backpack _did_ look a bit lumpy… could she have brought weapons? Why would she need them? Were they for perverts? Was Kou-sensei a pervert? Would she attack Kou-sensei if he did something wrong? Why was he thinking these thoughts?

Shaking his head to clear away the questions, he looked at the piece of paper that Katsu had written Shou's address on.

"So uh… do _you_ guys know where Shou lives?"

"Nope."

"Nada."

"So… do you know where this address is?"

"Yep."

"Yeah."

"Then what are we waiting for? Lead the way!"

Yumi and Ichigo looked at each other, before saying in unison, "You lead the way."

"It's time once again for… Rock, Paper, Scissors," Naruto grumbled. Did they really have to do this _every_ time they were supposed to do something?

Yumi had scissors, and Ichigo had paper, meaning that Yumi won and Ichigo would lead the way. Cursing Naruto's supposed bad luck that had seemingly rubbed off onto him, Ichigo began walking.

* * *

After fifty minutes and many accusations of who got them lost, why they didn't make that last turn, and did you even know where you're going, the three reached their destination. Unlike Ichigo's house, which was fairly normal, and Yumi's house, which was more on the wealthy side, the houses on the street were slummy. They were one story like Ichigo's, but thin like Yumi's, amounting to houses that were very small, and probably couldn't house more than two or three people. 

Biting back a sudden surge of pity for the black-haired individual that had been so horribly cruel to him the first day in Iwagakure. But then again, he suspected that Shou had been in a horrid mood from the start, so he couldn't exactly determine whether he was always like that, or was like that temporarily.

'_He can't possibly be like those Uchiha back in Konoha, with their heads inflated with their own egos_'

"**No shit, Sherlock.**"

Naruto suddenly became wary, his eyes flitting left and right.

'_Who the hell said that?_' he wondered to himself.

No response coming, he shrugged off his wariness. It must've been simply a figment of his imagination. At least, that would've been true, had the 'figment' not been laughing its ass off. Of course, it knew how to talk to itself, without letting Naruto hear it. This could've proved further entertaining, until the three set off down the street, in search of the Wangetsuki's home.

They stopped at the end of the street, as it was a cul-de-sac. In the circular formation of houses, they finally found what they sought for. It was in severe condition, even compared to the rest of the houses on the street. Several shingles were missing, parts of the roof were caving in, and the paint coating was peeling off. The windows were all in fine condition, but the house seemed more uncared for than vandalized. The drabness of the entire street, combined with the state of the house, left the three in awe. The three increasingly bright figures, contrasting from the dark colors of the street, wondered how Shou could live like this. Going up to the door, Naruto hoped that Shou would answer the door, and not his parents.

**Ding, dong.**

A minute passed by, with the door showing no sign of opening. Sighing, Naruto plopped himself onto the concrete right in front of the door, intent on waiting for Shou to return, if he was outside in the first place. Was he in the house and ignoring the doorbell, or outside, taking a stroll? Naruto didn't know, but what he _did _know was that he couldn't leave without Shou.

"So," the blonde boy began, trying to initiate some conversation, "Yumi… what's your family like?"

She shrugged, also taking a seat, while Ichigo leaned against the house.

"They're okay… both my parents are merchants, so you can see why I wanted to be a kunoichi… the job is boring as hell."

"Are… they nice?"

"They spoil me a little, but they've only got my best interests in mind."

"Che, that's what my _mom_ says when she tells me that I have to wash the dishes," Ichigo grumbled. "I _hate_ doing chores."

"I do my own chores, because my parents don't come home till late at night, because they have so few employees working for them, that they usually work with the employees."

Naruto stared into the sky as the sun painted it a brilliant mixture of violet, indigo, orange, red, and yellow.

"What kind of merchants are they?" he asked.

"They sell common merchandise, the types that civilians and well-to-do ninja would buy. You know, soaps, shampoos, accessories…"

Ichigo slid down the wall, eventually ending up sitting against it. Placing his hands behind his head, he asked, "So… your family has a lot of money?"

"It's not a _lot_, but its above average."

"My dad's a shinobi… that's how we get _our_ money. Mom used to be a kunoichi, but she left active duty after she got married. Mom was a Chuunin, and my dad's a Jounin."

Naruto hunched over, placing his chin over his folded hands. Looking quite thoughtful, he asked, "What do your parents look like? I've already met your dad, Ichigo."

"My mom… well, me and my sister both have orange hair, and so does my dad. But my mom… she's a brunette, you see. When I was born, my mom was hoping a second child wouldn't have the same orange hair. Unluckily for her, my sister had the same hair color. My mom tolerates the bright color, but always worries that it'll get us killed someday. _That's_ why she was hoping my sister wouldn't have orange hair, considering that she'll be entering the Academy when she's old enough… Oh, and my sister is four years old."

'_When did this conversation turn towards his sister?_' Naruto thought. '_Didn't I originally ask about his parents?_'

"Oh yes, back to my mom. Well, she looks just like any other mom, except that she always carries kunai and shuriken."

Now finished, Ichigo pointed to Yumi, who began describing her own parents.

"My mom is blonde, and my dad has green hair. He originally came from Kusa, while my mom was born and raised in Iwa. She's a little on the skinny side, unlike more of the other semi-successful merchants, and she walks as if she glides. That's how graceful she is. My dad isn't heavily built, like other merchants, and he's pretty fit. Considering that he's getting older, that's something to say."

"Any… facial hair?"

"No."

"Do you think I should ask Shou about his family?"

This time, Ichigo spoke up, with a "No… he doesn't like to talk about his parents."

"Why not?" the blonde boy asked, his interest increasing. "What would be so bad that he wouldn't talk about them?"

Yumi too, looked at Ichigo questioningly, wondering if he knew anything.

"Two words describing his dad. Money-grubbing bastard. His mom is like any normal mom; just wishes that he wouldn't be a shinobi and risk his life. His family actually needs the money that shinobi earn, because they're so poor and in the dumps."

"Isn't 'Money-grubbing bastard three words?" Naruto questioned.

Ichigo shook his head, replying, "Money-grubbing is a single word. I checked it up in the dictionary, so I would know."

At this point, Shou had arrived from his contemplative walk, to find his two friends and one acquaintance sitting on and around his doorstep. He noticed that Yumi and Ichigo both had backpacks, signifying that they were going somewhere.

Naruto spotted the black-haired boy, and stood up to wave.

"What do you three want?" he asked emotionlessly as he reached the doorsteps.

"Shou, I want… no, _need_ you to come over to my sleepover tonight."

Eyebrow rising slightly at the new piece of information, he then reprocessed the visuals of his teammates' backpacks.

'_Ah… so they're going to a sleepover?_'

He began contemplating his choice. If he went to this sleepover, his parents wouldn't need to scrounge up extra food, thus being able to eat more separately, be more satisfied and be able to work harder and earn extra money, etc… Plus, he'd be able to hang out with his two friends, and one acquaintance whose position he wasn't sure about. On a negative side… wait, were there any negative points? There had to be…

'_Okay… I guess I don't even _need_ to view the 'if I don't go to the sleepover' points…_'

Making a mock impression of actually contemplating whether or not to go, he decided to play a trick on the blonde. Smiling inwardly to himself, he turned to face Naruto.

"I'm sorry to say this, but…"

"NO! You _must_ come!"

"… I will be able to come."

"Eh?"

Naruto looked at the black-haired boy, surprised. He was surprised, because the boy hadn't been dismissive… no; he had purposely worded his words like that. Smiling, Naruto began thinking that maybe there was still a chance for the boy to become more open… well, from his own point of view anyway.

"Then what are you waiting for? Pack your bag, because we're leaving in a few minutes!"

Shrugging, Shou pulled out a set of keys to unlock the door. Fiddling with the doorknob for a few seconds until the door itself opened, he left it ajar as he walked deeper inside the house. The sound of rummaging and shuffling floated out of the door, signs of the packing that he was performing. After a few minutes, Shou emerged with a large backpack, the items inside it creating lumps.

Naruto raised his right eyebrow questioningly, turning his gaze to Ichigo and Yumi's backpacks, and then back to Shou's.

"You got a problem?" the black-haired individual asked, clearly understanding the look Naruto was giving him.

"What the hell are you bringing?" said blonde asked.

"Safety precautions," he muttered out, tightening his grip on the backpack. "It'll be safer if you don't find out what I'm bringing, and it'll also be safer if I bring what I'm bringing."

Staring blankly at Shou for a few seconds, Naruto turned away and began walking down the street.

"Whatever. Just make sure that 'safe' doesn't mean bringing weapons or torture equipment, to be used on me."

Yumi and Ichigo sweatdropped, while Shou began discreetly feeling around his open backpack for his weapons and torture equipment. Just in case. If the blonde tried anything funny, he'd get his ass kicked to next Tuesday.

* * *

Naruto unlocked the door to his four-story house, which was locked of course, but he doubted that Kou needed to use a key to get into the house in the first place. Now, where could his sadistic sensei be? On his search for Kou, he also began inspecting his house more closely, as the previous week in his new house had been spent sleeping. 

The front door led straight into the entrance hall, which was a little over three meters high, and ran for a little more than seven meters, splitting off into two directions, left and right. The hall was painted crimson red, with stripes of gold. There was a long, red rug stretching for the entire distance, adding a bit of color to the plain oak floor. On either side of the front door, stood two tall, covered lamps, which were currently turned off. In the middle of the hall, over the left wall, hung a large painting of Iwa's vast forces, which was painted in the weeks before the start of the Iwa-Konoha war.

The four ninja-in-training walked to the end of the hall, still gazing around in marvel at the size of the inside, and the elegance.

"Did you have to pay for all this?" Yumi asked.

Naruto shook his head. "House came like this."

To the left was the dining room, which was just as high as the entrance room. The room was painted a deep forest green. At the center of the dining room was a large marble and glass dining table, with room for twelve seats; four on each of the long sides, two on each of the short sides. All of the plates, utensils, and napkins were placed in an organized fashion inside two large oak cabinets, with glass doors. The cabinets were placed on either side of the long side of the dining table, straight against the wall. Like the hall, there was a rug in the dining room, placed right under the table. The rug was slightly larger than the table, and had an intricate design in the middle of its green material. That was when Naruto noticed it – the rugs' colors matched the colors of the rooms… Why would that be?

To the right was a room devoid of anything. The walls were white, there was no rug, and there were no accessories. Instead, there lay a single seal, carved into the one-piece wooden floor. The rectangular seal took up the space of the entire room, which was the same size as the dining room. For what purpose the room held, neither of the four knew, and the room would stay mysterious for years to come.

Continuing through the right room, and sparing glances as they went, they exited through a second door, now facing two sets of stairs. One from the left going up to the right, one from the right going up to the left. The two sets of stairs were standing next to each other, and had no extra accessories or ornaments.

Climbing the staircase, they found themselves in once again, another hallway and two-pronged diverging path situation. This time, the hallway was blue, and so was the rug. Just like the previous hallway, there were two lamps and a painting. This painting differed though, mainly in the fact that it depicted a burning Konoha, with two amber-colored eyes enlarged behind it. A snake-like grin could be made out from behind the flames consuming the ninja village. Each of them shivered unconsciously, and eventually moved on, intent on ignoring the disturbing image.

At the two-pronged diverging path, the room on the right was simply an exercise room. It contained many pieces of equipment for working and building the body. The floor was made of normal-looking wood, and the walls were painted a burgundy color.

To the left however, presented something that both confused and frightened the group of four. There, exactly above the previous room containing the seals, was _another_ totally blank room. Unlike the previous room, there were different seals etched onto the floor. The presence of two 'seal' rooms stacked up onto each other created a strange atmosphere, which convinced the four to make way for the staircase on the other side of the floor.

Walking up the second set of stairs, which was coincidentally set up exactly the same as the previous, they once again emerged into a hallway. Now, this was starting to piss Naruto off greatly. Why were all the floors the same? Was there a connection between the seals and the strange height of his house? Why were the pictures so strange? Why was the house suddenly letting off a strange aura? And where the hell was his sensei?

The hallway was painted midnight black, but this time, the rug was red – crimson red. As always, the two lamps stood on either side of the hall, at the entrance, but the lampshades were now black, instead of the previous white. As usual, a painting hung on the side, at the middle of the hallway. Unlike the previous, this painting was two times as large. What they saw on it made their breaths catch in their throats.

On a plateau, nine figures stood. Their presence ominous and their purpose unknown, they gazed out as if they were alive. Their faces were hidden naturally, because of the lighting and position of the sun, but their eyes showed, and that much was important. Eyes could show a multitude of things, from emotional attributes to their state of mind. From the left to right…

One had pale, silver eyes, which looked shifty… greedy.

One had pale, red eyes; a gloating look in them that said that he was better… that he couldn't be beat.

One had beady black eyes, an overconfident look expressed in them that said that his strength was unmatched.

One had blood red eyes, which contained a look without emotion – the mark of a heartless killer. His eyes said but one word. "Death".

One had orange eyes, a deadly but insane glint in them that said that he would go to hell and back to achieve his goal.

One had dark blue eyes with a mysterious expression in them, that couldn't be discerned.

One had no visible eyes at all, but this served to show him in a frightening light, yet his posture showed one of naivety.

One had blue eyes that glinted with deadly precision, the eyes of an artist that said much about the fatal art that he created.

One had yellow eyes, the eyes of someone not entirely human that said that he had no regrets.

In the background, a sun rose - a blood red sun. The light created silhouettes on each of the nine figures. The sun painted the cloudless sky a brilliant combination of red and black, the same colors of the hallway. As if it were important, a faint image was contained in the sun, a faint image of a demon. The demon had nine eyes, and its open mouth seemed able to swallow anything. Together, the painting was shown as if it were a horror story shown straight from a book. The ominous aura from the figures made the four feel as if that fate was on its way, and their presence created a foreboding thought, that the results of fate would be disastrous.

The last painting had made them feel uneasy, but this painting had caused the four to break out in sweat, because of how the painting depicted the nine figures. Something in Naruto's gut told him that those nine were real, and it certainly wasn't the ramen he had eaten in the morning, that was for sure.

Abandoning the image, the four began walking at a brisk pace – almost running, towards the end of the hall, anything to get away from the frightening picture. Turning right at the end of the hall, they came upon another 'seal' room. Retreating quickly, they went into the room on the left. What they saw eased their breathing and heavy hearts, because for the moment, they were safe.

The room was a living room, simply enough. A burning fireplace was placed in the upper-left corner of the room, with two sofas placed in front of it, at intersecting angles. A pool table sat in the center of the room, and lights hung from the ceiling. The four, relieved from their escape, failed to take in the details of the room, but merely set it aside. It wasn't important. What was important was that they were in a temporary haven, at least, until they traversed to the final story of the house. Giving each other one last look, they gathered their wits and courage, and walked up the last set of stairs. What they saw surprised them.

The hallway was there, as usual, but was a stark white, in deep contrast to the previous floor. The lamps were modern, and two double-sized paintings hung at the center of the hall, on opposite sides. Walking up to the new set of paintings, the four felt elated, for some reason or another.

The painting on the left was a world map, depicting two large continents. The one to the north was the Elemental Countries, of the Elemental Continent.

Shou shook his head despairingly as he looked at the painting.

"How is that possible? From the geographical records, the continent to the south doesn't exist. It's supposed to be one huge whirlpool, and sailors who venture too near are sucked in and never return."

The painting on the right was a scene, much like the previous.

A single figure stood, cloaked in the deepest black imaginable. The hood placed over his head, his facial features were unattainable. Around him, surrounding him in a circle was a vast forest. Demons could be seen in the forest, and the lone figure in the center was ablaze with white energy.

It seemed to be a climactic picture, taken right before battle and chaos erupted. The sky was cerulean-blue, the grass the greenest they'd ever seen. The trees were humongous, the flowers looked rare.

Strangely, the picture gave off a feeling of… finality. As if, that were the end, and that the painting was merely the end of a recorded legend, that anything past that was lost, and would stay that way. The picture itself would become legend, the battle after that even more legendary. Still, it unsettled Naruto, who felt that the figure in the center was someone that he knew.

Gesturing for the others to follow, the four moved to the end of the hallway. To the right was a 'seal' room, placed exactly over all of the other three 'seal' rooms. Intriguing though was the _circular_ seal that was in the room, compared to the rectangular ones of the previous room. The room was painted a mixture of reds, oranges, yellows, and whites, and was one the one room that stood apart from the others.

To the left, however, was Naruto's bedroom. Walking inside of the last room, they came face to face with the one and only Ishishou Kouryou, in the flesh.

"You took your time getting here, didn't you?"

"Well, we got caught up in… well, the strange pictures and rooms," Yumi explained.

Kou nodded in understanding. "Ah yes, I was a little freaked out by those too."

Grinning evilly, he performed a few hand seals. The walls changed from goldenrod to white, and he ordered them to sit in a circle, which they did of course.

The brunette said his next sentence in a strange way. The kind where a predator has just met his preys, and will strike.

"We're going to play a little game of… _Truth or Dare_…"

* * *

Wow… 10,000 words and twenty five pages, and my imagination was dry for a bit, until it went BOOM when it came to the house. For some reason, I incorporated the seal rooms and paintings, but for a mysterious purpose. Mwahahaha! This has got to be the longest chapter I've ever written for _any_ fanfiction. Second place goes to a 9,500-word chapter in Black Lightning. There is actually no vocabulary or crap in this one, so just enjoy the read! 

On another note, this chapter was spent mostly on setting up for important future events, and to build upon Academy Team 4's personality, but mostly setting up for future events. Yes, I _know_ it wasn't exciting, it _was _long, and it _is_ a filler chapter. Actually, just so you guys know, the first three 'Beginning' chapters are all filler. But unlike normal fillers, this is building up on his relationships towards others in Iwagakure.

Finally, thanks to my beta readers Hoyt and Genesis D. Rose. However, along with these two, I'll need to find _two more_ beta-readers. PM/E-mail me if you want to apply.

**Question** and _Answer_

**Does Naruto stay in Iwagakure, or go back to Konoha? **_I have one word for you. Title. Tsuchi no Kuni means Country of Earth. Why would I make the title Tsuchi no Kuni if he weren't staying in Iwagakure?_

**Will Naruto learn some of his original moves from the manga? **_I'm thinking… I'm thinking… I don't know… I suppose I'll put up a poll!_

**Poll**

Should Naruto learn his original move(s) from the manga, or should I make him have a completely new move set (Which will of course, be from my making)?

1. Yes, Naruto should learn his original manga moves.

2. No, Naruto should learn completely new and original moves.

3. I think you should mix and match.

4. I don't care.

AN: To my Black Lightning readers, I will most likely be using those Doton jutsu from the Naruto-Kiri arc in this fanfiction.


	5. Settling In

Ryouichi: You'll notice that Naruto's speech is a lot more basic compared to earlier chapters. This was done on purpose to make him seem like his age. I'll be editing the previous chapters later to make Naruto fit in more to his age and to modify the writing to fit my current style, which I think does away with a lot of unnecessary stuff and focuses on character interaction. Also, holy crap, has it really been almost five years since I updated this? DAMN!

If the chapter seems a bit off, that's because I wrote each half at different intervals. This hasn't been proofread, I'm just feeling too tired. Later.

* * *

His body ached all over. Naruto groaned from the lingering physical and mental pain. It was no easy thing to first be subjected to genjutsu one after another for an entire week, and a headache threatened to return him to unconsciousness.

And what happened on that fateful night after the first genjutsu session would stay in their little cabal of secrecy for all eternity.

He squinted tiredly at the words painted in red on his bedroom window. _What a pain. What did I do to make her so mad? … Oh, yeah, the book._ The blond's laughter died down as quickly as it had begun. _Asuka won't give up till I give her the book? Or does she care anymore? _Naruto frowned as he pondered whether it was more a case of violated pride now. He could imagine her stopping if he gave her the book. That is, if she were a normal girl. Normal people would've forgotten about it at this point, or just figured it for something out of their control. But she hadn't forgotten, and she was leaving messages during the night. Over a book. Every single day. That definitely wasn't normal.

Well, on that note, Kouryou wasn't normal either. In fact, did he even know any normal people? _Shou reads too many books, Yumi's too shy, Ichigo's just like me, and I'm not that normal, Asuka is crazy and so is Kou-sensei. Ichigo's dad hates ramen and Katsu-san is a Kage._ It was like a gathering of weird people. Then again, all ninja had their eccentricities. He read in a book that ninja had to be because their job was to kill other people for the rest of their career. He stepped out of the house and began walking, preoccupied with his thoughts. The sky was still dark, but was slowly lightening.

After two weeks here in Iwa, Naruto had to admit that he'd gotten used to waking up very early. It was even pretty nice, watching the sun rise and going around the village before rush hour. It definitely needed more green trees but he supposed he had to be satisfied. Katsu-san _had _mentioned that Tsuchi no Kuni had its share of rivers and forests. At least this wasn't Suna, which was bereft of any worthwhile amount of plant life.

If he'd talked to Shou, he might have learned that a river flowed within two miles from the village, the very river Naruto had had to wade through, blood-sucking leeches included. Fortunately for the village, it was also within a mile of semi-fertile soil, and about ten miles further east lay a vast forest; Small in comparison to Konoha's, but large regardless. Bookworm as he was, Shou might have further argued that the forest to the east was just one half of the expanse of forest that created a large crescent moon around Iwagakure. Fortunately for the blond, Shou wasn't around to bore him to death with useless facts. What he knew was that there were rivers and there were forests somewhere out there. That was good enough.

After all, what better place to hide outside the village from an irate, psychotic redhead than a forest in which he had the advantage?

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that he'd already arrived at the usual spot. He did notice when he ran smack dab into Kouryou.

"Shinobi Rule Eight: Always maintain a vigil eye on your surroundings."

"... Huh?"

Kouryou sighed, remembering that he was only speaking to a seven-year-old. "Watch where you're going."

"Oh, okay. There are rules?"

"You'll learn them when you start attending the Academy next year."

"What?" exclaimed Naruto, "I won't be with you anymore?" Despite being really mean, the man had grown on him and he'd gotten better at deciphering what he actually meant when he talked.

Clucking in disappointment, Kouryou tapped Naruto on the forehead forcefully.

"Until you become a Chuunin, I'm your sensei. Remember that. From now through your graduation until your promotion. That's my mission, and I'll see it through the entire way. And don't look at me like that." From start to end, the blond had been staring at him with what seemed to be sparkling eyes and a too-wide-for-his-face smile. It was creepy and he was feeling dirty and unpleasant.

Kouryou scowled at the now normal looking boy. While the kid was interesting and certainly much better for his health than cigarettes, which he coincidentally had to quit by order of the Tsuchikage, he was having doubts on whether or not he'd be able to rein in the blond's hyperactivity within five years. In those five years, he had to turn Naruto not just into a shinobi, but into a great shinobi. Naruto definitely had the potential, but no matter how great the shinobi, if the shinobi in question couldn't control his own emotions, he would end up dead, one way or another. He'd already seen his share of death in the last Great Shinobi War, and as cruel as he was to others, he didn't want to witness a repeat of that slaughter.

As Naruto began reading a book on chakra control as per instructions, Kouryou's memories shifted backwards in time. A time where the mere mention of the name Kiroi Senkou would instill fear into even the most experienced ninja. He'd been fourteen then, just a year older than the now famous Hatake Kakashi. He too had witnessed the magnificence of the future Yondaime Hokage on the battlefield, except on the receiving end. He'd been injured and was lying on the floor when it happened, and it had saved his life. Anyone standing and able to fight, young and old, had been mercilessly cut down almost instantaneously.

To this day, the only thing he could remember was a bright flash of yellow surrounding him completely and disappearing, leaving dozens upon dozens of corpses around him. The corpses of teammates, acquaintances, friends, and family... While he had rejoiced with others when the news of the Yondaime's death had arrived, he had also mourned with others at the death of one of the greatest shinobi to grace the world. Just being able to stop Kyuubi, strongest of the nine bijuu and a nigh unstoppable force of nature, had exponentially increased his fame to heights only reached by a select few. The Legendary Sannin, for example.

And then, he was presented with the task of training the child of that legend with the graces of both the Tsuchikage and Hokage, though the majority Konoha did not know about the boy's disappearance. At least, not that he knew of.

A small grin found its way onto his face. If only he could see the faces of the pathetic Konoha council when it was announced that Naruto would be in the possession of Earth Country. Bar the fact that he was the child of the Yondaime, which was coincidentally just rumor until confirmed by the Hokage in a message to the Tsuchikage just four days prior, Naruto was also the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, which could be considered a vast military resource by some.

"Kou-sensei."

"Hm?" He released himself from his thoughts and turned his head.

"I finished reading what you told me to."

Kouryou raised an eyebrow. "Did you know what all the words were?"

"... No."

"I see..." He'd forgotten that not just with spoken word, Naruto had subpar vocabulary for a seven-year-old. An exception could be made on curses, which he found the boy knew plenty of.

"Quiz time. Do you know what chakra is?"

"Chakra is, um... when you take, uh... spirit power and body power and mix them together...?"

"Close enough," the Jounin conceded. "Do you know how to control chakra?"

"No."

"Let me say that a different way. Do you remember what the book said about controlling chakra?"

"Uh, you mix chakra... you use your... head? I think you use your head... Not my head head, but the thinking part!" A nod from Kou-sensei. "You use your head to work really hard and take the body power and put it in the spirit power... And then, with something over time and practice, you can learn how to mix them with smaller pieces but do the same thing!"

"That part at the end, it's 'experience over time'."

"Experience?"

"Experience is something you did. Everything you do is an experience, which..." He searched for the right words to convey the meaning. "You take all your different experiences and add them up to make one big experience. In that big experience, all those smaller experiences are still there and you can use the... stuff... you remember in them like remembering stuff from your head. It all stays in your head."

"Oh, I see!"

At wit's end, Kouryou sighed. "Time to get serious." As Naruto looked up slowly, a sneer spread across Kouryou's face. "Chakra control time!" He handed Naruto a small sticky note-sized piece of paper. "You will put that paper on your forehead. From there, you can't let it fly away. You have to get your chakra to stick to that paper and hold it there."

"But-"

"But nothing," the brunette growled. "If you don't know, you'll learn!" He tossed a small box onto the floor. "Extras. Every time you let a paper fly away, your body is going to jolt, making it harder to concentrate. That's how the paper was made. Fortunately for you, I changed the paper to shock you even more."

The blond stared at his sensei with wide, terrified eyes as the man approached slowly, paper held out.

"Begin."

* * *

He lay on the dusty floor, gazing at the slowly darkening sky. The sun was setting, which was also a reminder that he had other things to do. The training had been grueling. Both his mind and body had been pushed to their limits from nonstop concentration and the constant electrification of his body. Kou-sensei had already finished for the day and left half an hour ago, leaving him behind to recuperate. He just wished that he was laying on grass instead of dirt.

_Still... Kou-sensei can be mean, but I think it's better if he's mean and makes me strong instead of being nice and not doing it_. Naruto patted off the dirt clinging to his clothes. _Still, I didn't know I was this strong already._ He hung around the Academy enough to see the level of physical strength of those older than him, and he beat them out by a mile. He didn't know why, but he did. _Maybe Kou-sensei is just that good._

The back of his neck prickled. Confused, Naruto looked around. Nothing but petrified trees and dust... Wait, behind that tree. Something glinted. He scrunched his eyes up a bit... It glinted again. The brilliant green-colored eye shone evilly.

"I. Found. You."

The blond could almost feel his blood freeze.

Asuka moved out from behind cover, smiling genially. "You're the first to take something from me," she breathed. "I'm a genius. I _deserve_ everything I get. Daddy said so. You took something from me."

Recklessness, your name is male. "W-W-Well, I'mspecial too!" Naruto shouted in an attempt to prolong his good health. "Katsu-san said so! In fact, I'm more special than y-GYAH!" he ducked, avoiding a shuriken.

"Give it back."

"T-The book?" His ploy failed, he reverted to plan B. Grovel for his life. "Sure! Sure! It's just, I left it at home..."

"Give it back, give it back, Give it back, Give It Back, GIVE IT BACK!"

Naruto made a break for it, unconsciously raising his speed through chakra use. Ten, no, fifteen minutes. He only had to last that long to get home and deadbolt the door. The two streaked through the village, amusing the people who saw them run by.

"They're at it again," chuckled a fishmonger.

A housewife clasped her hands together. "How adorable," she cooed, stars sparkling in her eyes.

And thus, another day in the life of Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

The weeks continued, with days alternating between taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu twice a week. The seventh day was a rest day allotted so that Naruto could recover. The fourth week of the month was dedicated to teaching the boy essentials: reading, writing, vocabulary, and so on. In the sixth week, Naruto finally grasped the concept of basic chakra control, prompting Kouryou to begin actual ninjutsu training...

Naruto leapt with all his might, his face contorted into a silent scream. A fireball roared past where he'd previously been standing.

"KOU-SENSEI, WHAT PART OF THIS IS NINJUTSU TRAINING?" shrieked the blond.

"I'm teaching you how to dodge them, what else?" The tone of the man's voice was nonchalant, sounding as if the purpose of today's actions should have been obvious. When the blond stared back blankly, the brunette sighed. "Okay, okay. Listen well. What can you do when you see someone using a jutsu?"

"Uh... use a bigger one?"

"... No. You can stop him from doing it if you're fast enough, or dodge it if you know what jutsu he's using, or use a different jutsu to beat his down."

"What's so different about the third one and my answer?"

"Your answer is about being flashy and stupid. If you know someone is going to use a Katon jutsu, and you know that water beats fire, then what will you do?"

"Uh... Uhm, use a Suiton jutsu?"

"Exactly!" Kou shouted, slamming a fist into his open palm. "Being a flashy ninja is completely against what a real ninja should be. A real ninja is strong, but a real ninja is also smart enough to know when to do certain things and when not to. What I'm saying is, you saw what hand seals I just did, right?"

"Err, kind of? Not really..." Naruto chuckled, embarrassed.

Groaning, he walked up to the short blond. "Okay, let's go over this again." He placed his hands together. "When you start with a Tiger or Dragon seal, the jutsu will be a Katon. Ram or Boar seals will be Doton. Bird and Monkey will be Fuuton, and Horse and Rabbit will be Raiton. Snake seals will be Suiton, and Dog seals are used to start everything else. Got it?"

Naruto nodded, looking up from his notepad. "Got it!" The notebook had been given by Katsu, after complaints by Kou that the boy had information go in one ear and out the other. A special jutsu on the notebook allowed the reader to retain information easier.

"Why didn't you write it down last time?"

"I was tired," the boy whined.

"..." Kou performed hand seals. As Naruto's eyes widened, he aimed his palm at the blond.

"Wh-" On his feet in half a second, and trying to remember what hand seal Kou had started with, he jumped into the air, almost certain it would be a Doton jutsu. "Wah!" He knew he'd been wrong the moment he was encased in a sphere of water, sourced from the nearby irrigation canal.

"Idiot, I used a Snake seal." He watched the boy struggle for air for a short while before releasing him. As Naruto gasped for breath, he began lecturing, "Never jump into the air against a Suiton jutsu. It's always better to use another jutsu to create a wall."

"Wh-W-Why?" Naruto asked between pants.

"What goes up must come down." The answer was simple. "Unless you're some sort of Fuuton master, you _have_ to come down eventually, and then you'll get caught."

"Makes s-seh-sense..." After regaining his breath, he asked, "So then what jutsu should I use?"

"Doton jutsu," was the immediate reply. "You'll learn all about the jutsu strength and weakness chart three months from now, but for now, just remember that you should always use Doton jutsu against Suiton jutsu."

"So... So Doton jutsu will always stop a Suiton jutsu?"

"Nope."

The blond looked confused. "Huh? But-"

"You're from Konoha, so you should know about the Nidaime Hokage, right?"

"I read about him in the library," Naruto offered helpfully. "I never went to school back... there... so..."

_I see... _"Well the point is, the Nidaime Hokage could make his own water source out of chakra and use that water to cut through a Doton jutsu if he wanted."

"Do all Suiton jutsus need water to be there already?"

"Yes, unless you're a _really good_ ninja."

"Then-!"

"No." He shook his head. "You just don't look like a Suiton type, to be honest. More like fire, I'd say."

"Why?"

"How you talk and act is usually related to what type you are."

Naruto's mouth formed an O in recognition. "Ohhhhh."

"Now, back to training!" He performed more hand seals, breathed in, and released another man-sized fireball.

"GYAAAH!"

As Naruto dodged, once again, by the skin of his teeth, a third party flopped about on the sidelines. "I'm bored," Asuka groaned.

"Then why are you here?" demanded Shou.

"Why _not_?" the redhead countered.

"_Why_?" was the stubborn reply. "If it's boring, go do something fun."

"This _was _fun, the first few times..."

"You have to admit, it _was_ funny," agreed Ichigo. "Sure, it looked dangerous, but I don't think Kou-san would try to kill Naruto."

Asuka grinned. "_I _think he would."

Nodding, Shou added, "Too true."

Silence fell, and the group watched as Naruto tripped and smashed face first into the moving rock wall that Kou conjured up. In the minute that it took the blond to recover, the brunette had finished and was waiting with another jutsu.

"W-Wait, n-"

He was shot back by a powerful stream of water draining from the canal.

"You're going to have to get up faster if you want to dodge," Kou called.

"... Yes..." replied a sullen Naruto.

...

Asuka folded her arms behind her head. "_I _could have dodged those easily."

_Unlikely_, thought Shou to himself, his expression deadpan.

"I'd like to see you try," Naruto replied grumpily. "He's _evil_." Ichigo nodded fervently.

"Well I didn't say he wasn't," countered the redhead. "He was totally going easy on you."

"Wha-Easy?" The cry of disbelief from the blond was immediate.

"He's an elite Jounin. He could turn you into firewood faster than you could _blink_!"

"Well... now that I think about it..."

The relationship between the two had roughly mellowed out following the return of the library book. The problem behind the earlier mess had been one of injured pride more than anything, and Naruto's intense, fear-fueled groveling satisfied much of that thirst for vengeance. That would have been the end of it, had Naruto not been in the good graces of the Yondaime Tsuchikage. Curious about what made the blond so special, Asuka began spending more time around him. So far, she had found nothing special about the boy.

The blond's blue eyes sparkled. "Heh, it must be that Kou-sensei would be in too much trouble if I died!" He grinned, teeth sparkling.

"Eurgh, too much sparkling," muttered Asuka and Shou, both backing away a few steps.

The group of five eventually parted ways at the crossroad at the center of the village. Asuka and Naruto walked together the final stretch to the affluent housing areas, separating at Machi no Tsuchi. The blond walked home, happy that she seemed to have taken his apologies to heart. After all, Kou-sensei was already threatening his health; He didn't need Asuka to make it worse.

"Number 312." He placed his hands on his hips, grinning. "And it's all mine." Like a monkey, he climbed the side of the house to the third floor. Like hell he'd go through those creepy rooms again. His bed, left just as it is, beckoned to him. His aching body flopped down and in moments, the blond lost consciousness.

* * *

_Why is it so wet?_ Naruto opened his eyes. "What the hell?" he said loudly. His voice echoed down the dank tunnel he awoke in. "Huh? I was in my bed..." Standing, he shook himself of excess water. "Bleh. Someone needs to get a repairman here." The sound of dripping water sounded off regularly, bringing a strange sense of calm. "Hello?" His call went unanswered, but a bizarre feeling, as if something were tugging on his navel, led him down a certain set of labyrinthine passages.

"Heeeeey!" The voice bounced off the walls of the narrow passageway, echoing eerily. He was finding very quickly that he did not enjoy this solitude. Naruto sped up his pace, following the strange feeling that he instinctively knew would draw him to where he needed to be. _This is so weird... _Left, right, left, left, right, right, left, right, left. The path wound on and on, but still he felt drawn forward.

Forward to the large, barred doors that now filled his vision. _Whoa, big._ As soon as he pressed his hand upon the door, the massive chains holding the door closed lost their strength, ringing loudly as they impacted with the floor. When he felt it was safe enough to remove his hands from his ears, Naruto made to open the door. Like before, a single touch was all it took to send the great door creak open loudly. Beyond the door lay a cage larger than the door itself, which had been nearly forty feet tall.

As he stood in the doorway, the only sound he could hear was a rhythmic rippling of the water that covered the expanse between the door and the cage. Suddenly, it dawned on him that being here may not have been the brightest idea as a strange feeling crept up his chest. Ill at east, Naruto tried to step back, only to slip and fall on all fours. Within the room. Eyes glowing crimson red shone from the depths of the cage, and, paralyzed with fear, Naruto could only watch with growing fascination and terror as a terrible roar split the silence.

"**WHO ARE YOU, HUMAN, THAT DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?**"

He could not say anything, anything at all to explain himself to the monster that he was seeing for the first time. And he knew, somehow, that this was the very monster they said had been sealed with him.

"Kyuubi," came the whisper.

At the sound, the giant monster fox leaned forward, realization dawning in its feral eyes. "**SO IT IS YOU, MY GATEKEEPER. MY, SO YOUNG AND... **_**TINY**_**.**" The boy could not reply, his tongue tied with fear and awe, and he could only gape. The fox was gigantic, larger than he'd ever dreamed. The bijuu towered over one-hundred feet above him, dwarfing the already small child. "**HUMAN, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE. I HAVE NO NEED FOR SUCH A WEAKLING IN MY HALLS.**"

Finally finding his voice, he protested, "B-But, you've been the one helping me, right?"

Its eyes narrowed. Kyuubi blew, causing the boy to cry out as he was knocked onto his back by the gust of wind. "**YOU ARE WEAK. WEAK, BUT STILL MY CONTAINER. I WILL PROTECT MYSELF, AND ONLY MYSELF.**" It huffed. "**GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, HUMAN, BEFORE I HAVE A MIND TO BLOW YOU HARD ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU GO SPLAT ON THE WALLS.**" The fox receded into the shadows, and as the glowing eyes vanished, so did his surroundings turn to dark. When his eyes snapped open, Naruto found himself in darkness. A glance at the clock told him what he needed to know; He wasn't late. With an hour before he had to wake up, the boy decided to take a walk to clear his mind, to think about what he'd just seen. As young as he was, he still knew the importance of the meeting. This was why the villagers had hated him, and he could see why. Kyuubi was a monster of the worst sorts, even he could see it so simply. It exuded an aura of hatred, and hatred was the emotion the boy knew best.

The village was lightening as the sun began to rise over the horizon, and the light breeze that seemed nonexistent during the afternoons tickled his skin as he walked the streets. Here, no one knew who he was, and so no one could hate him. There had only been a few people back in Konoha who he'd had the pleasure of not being hated by: _Shikamaru's dad, the old geezer Sandaime, uncle Teuchi, and that weird one-eyed dude_. He smiled at the memory of his last birthday.

"Nice smile."

Surprised, Naruto whirled around so quickly that he nearly lost his balance. His shaggy-haired sensei watched him from his sitting position on a nearby roof. Silently, he pat the piece of roof next to him.

After he'd climbed up and sat down next to his teacher, silence prevailed for several long moments.

"You know," the Jounin began, "I'd thought you hadn't been able to smile like that." At the blond's quizzical expression, he amended, "I mean, you laugh heartily around your friends, but that's just because you're enjoying yourself. This is the first time I've seen you make such a heartfelt expression. What were you thinking of?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "On my last birthday, old man Sandaime was waiting in my room when I got home, with a big birthday cake." He withdrew a cute frog purse from his pocket. "He gave me this for my birthday present."

"Cute." Now he understood. The boy was a jinchuuriki, and he likely had little to few people who had actually treated him like a human being. _The Sandaime Hokage, huh?_ "You must have loved him."

"He was like a real grandpa to me." The momentary forlorn expression did not go unnoticed.

"Do you miss home?"

"I don't miss home!" The reply was harsh and quick, brimming with anger, but the following words were soft and gentle. "They all hated me... and I hated them. I miss the nice people, like old man Sandaime who came every birthday, and uncle Teuchi who used to give me free ramen... They were nice enough for a hundred people..." When he realized that tears were threatening to fall, Naruto hastily wiped his eyes. A clap on the back had the boy yelping in surprise. He looked up and saw Kou gazing at him softly.

"They would've wanted you to live happily, kid. They would've wanted you to leave the village if you could."

"But-"

"Sandaime couldn't do it because it was his job to protect the village by keeping you in the village," interrupted the brunette.

"Protect the village?" He furrowed his brows. "What did that have to do with me?"

"You know what you are, and you know that you could be used as a weapon." Naruto nodded. "Then you also know that if another village got you, they might use you to attack Konoha. Am I right?"

"I get it."

Kouryou ruffled his student's hair. "Don't worry, kid. Everything will turn out okay somehow. That's not how a ninja's supposed to think, but I do."

"Kou-sensei, you... you're being a lot nicer to me than in training. Why?"

Kouryou laughed outright. "Kid, if I made it too easy for you to train, how would you get better? The ninja world isn't nice, and a lot of people will want to kill you. It's best for you if you get the nice beat out of you early so you can live a long life. Look." Naruto looked towards his teacher's gesture and his breath caught in his throat. The sky had turned a brilliant cacophony of yellows, purples, and reds as the sunrise colored the heavens. "Beautiful, right? Life is full of beautiful things that you don't get to see if you die. Survive my training and live long, kid. And always listen to the people that say I'm half-crazy. I am. All ninja are, to go through life killing other people and risking your life. All ninja are a little crazy, you'll see." He stood. "Well, shall we get to training?"

Naruto sprang to his feet. "Yeah!"

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered the message. _So, he's safe. That's a relief. _He'd have to tell the council of elders, before the message reached their eyes by other means. He eyed the lone ANBU standing at attention in front of his desk. _A troubled past full of tragic losses. Will it be alright to send him? _As if reading his mind, the ANBU stood up straighter.

"I am mentally stable, sir," he announced baldly. "Who and what the boy is will not affect my actions."

The wizened leader of Konoha fiddled with the message. "I understand that you may think so, but you know as well as I that being in the situation is far different from what one theorizes it to be."

"Sir," This time the tone was urgent, "It has to be me. He accepts very few people and trusts even less. Though I am of the former and you of the latter, your obligations to the village and your health prevent you from going personally. If you may excuse me for saying this harshly..." Hiruzen nodded. "Hokage-sama, you are growing older, and you are not the young man you used to be. You should leave it to the next generation."

He steepled his hands and replied in kind, "That may be so, but are you sure you are not doing this just to confirm your suspicions?" The masked ninja stiffened. "Or is it possible that no matter who the boy was, you would twist his existence to fit your suspicions-" At this, his subordinate slammed his palms onto his desk.

"Hokage-sama, you are my leader but I cannot take such an insult lightly!" He quickly realized his folly and withdrew. "I am sorry, but I would never dare to besmirch his name in such a way. You know this as well as I."

"I do."

"Then why the goad, sir?" Hiruzen could tell the younger man was feeling frustrated. It was natural, his only connection to his former team, all deceased, could be in another country. He may never get another chance to meet the child while he was still innocent. Any longer and they may one day meet, yes, but as enemies.

"I needed to see how you would react. I needed to see if that last statement would truly offend you, and I needed to know that you would never consider doing such a thing." He twirled a pencil idly, watching the young man out of the corner of his vision. _He may have had a troubled past, but I cannot question __his loyalty to the village, albeit a fierce loyalty out of respect for his teacher, who loved this village as well as I. Minato, will this decision be a mistake, or the saving grace of two emotionally scarred __youths? If only you had let me... You were the future of the village, and the youngest Hokage since the Shodaime. _Hiruzen let out a breathy sigh. "Kakashi, you are dismissed."

"... Sir." Hatake Kakashi bowed and turned.

"Be ready by the end of the week."

He could sense the immediate elation of the man from the way his shoulders first stiffened at his last words, then relaxed almost lazily. The power of words could not be underestimated, it seemed. One sentence sending off a person in depression, and a second sentence turning that emotion into joy. He gauged the twenty-one-year-old's reaction.

"Thank you, sir!" The cyclopian ANBU bowed deeply, almost reverentially.

"And about your resignation from ANBU, upon your return you will assume a position as a Jounin-sensei."

"!" The shock was clearly visible on his face. _So, some things can still surprise him,_ Hiruzen mused. "Sir... Me, a Jounin-sensei? I-I don't think I'm qualified to be-"

_He doesn't feel as if he can live up to his ideal image of a teacher... live up to the legacy of his teacher, Minato. _"Kakashi, you are more qualified for the position than you may realize, and it is an important position. I would trust few others to be able to raise the top-quality ninja that Konoha so direly needs after the Kyuubi debacle." He paused to collect his thoughts. "Kakashi, you may not be your teacher." Hiruzen lit up his pipe and puffed slowly. "You may not be him, but you are his only remaining student. Only you can pass on what you learned from him. Think, would he have wanted you to become a teacher?"

The young man replied with a grudging "Yes. He would have smiled at me and told me, "Good job, now you can be just like me"."

He nodded. "Good, then go. Do what you must do."

Kakashi placed his fist over his heart. "With all my power."

When he had departed, Hiruzen swiveled in his chair to look out of the window and gaze upon his village. His heart was torn. With this, he had thrown the die. Would Naruto return to Konoha a destroyer, or a savior? True, Kakashi had never hated the boy, and as young as the boy was, he was perceptive enough to recognize hate, veiled or no. This might be the single factor that could turn the tide, an action that could change the future.

His village_. _His beautiful village. It was his duty to protect it from any threat, whomever it may be. If it had to be Naruto, then he would do his duty. He would fight, sorrowfully, but the safety of the village was his responsibility, and as Hokage he could let no one threaten that safety, even the child that had been like a grandson to him. Hiruzen still remembered his early days. His glory days. Konoha's recovery from the Nidaime's death had been grueling. After being lead for so long by the Senju clan, his induction as the Sandaime Hokage had not gone by as he would have hoped. Many of the villagers expressed secretly their lack of confidence in the young leader, unsure that, in his youth, he would not able to shoulder the immense responsibility of protecting and cultivating the village.

True, he had eventually proven himself to be more than capable, earning himself two nicknames: The God of Shinobi and The Professor. But in the very beginning, the work had been dull and endless, the struggles fierce, and many came to dislike him when they perceived that he could not handle the position. _As if they could have done any better,_ he snorted. But even that amount of dislike had unsettled him, and how could his woes compare to the nearly universal hate that Naruto and his fellow jinchuuriki had to endure, some from their own families.

"It is easy to hate, but so painful to be hated." He had lived long enough to witness the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars, and the cycle of hatred fed on conflict, more so in such large confrontations where hundreds of ninja lost their lives. If only... _I'm old, my bones ache, and I find it difficult to do as much work as I used to do. I cannot lead Konoha forever, yet, who could take my place? Orochimaru is... and Jiraiya hates the idea of responsibility, and Tsunade... She continues to drown her grief through gambling. Where did I go wrong with my students? _"Report."

"No abnormalities, sir. For the moment, they are not ready to move on you."

"Keep your vigil. For the sake of the village, we cannot have another conflict, else we risk being converged upon by the other nations in our weakness."

"If I may be bold as to ask leave from duty to attend to my younger brother...?"

Hiruzen frowned momentarily, trying to remember what it was. "Ah... was it, ah. Your younger brother is entering the ninja academy soon, if I recall." The ANBU standing on the ledge of the Hokage tower murmured an affirmative. "seven-years-old. Aren't you worried that he's joining too soon?"

"Not at all, sir. His talent is genetic."

"If only!" he chuckled. "If only." Though he could not see the ANBU and he couldn't see him, the Sandaime's expression turned stern. "Though I oppose it, if it ever comes to this, will you be able to do what is necessary?"

"... I don't know, sir."

Puffing thoughtfully on his pipe, rummaged one-handed through his desk until he found his old headband. It was chock full of nicks and scratches and he had never opted to get a new one to replace it. The leaf symbol engraved on the metal was a constant reminder of who he was and where his duty lied. Yet... "I understand. As much as you love the village, family is family, so much so a treasured sibling. If you had told me that you would be willing to go even that length, I would have had to question your mental health. It is abnormal for one to partake in the killing of one's family without remorse." Hiruzen settled comfortably into his swiveling chair. "I'm glad that you take some time to speak to me about your troubles. Go to your brother's opening ceremony."

"Thank you, sir."

After the second ANBU had left, Hiruzen glanced wearily at the paperwork that had been piling up. He could put it off for a bit longer. More importantly... He looked out the window, which faced south towards the South Gate, the largest gate leading into Konoha, and which also lay the direction of the Wind Country, Kaze no Kuni. The Earth Country lay to the North, but seeing as this was the only window in his office, it would have to make do. He closed his eyes in silent prayer.

_Naruto, I pray you are well. You were hated here, and you will be hated there, but the Kyuubi did not ravage Iwa as it did Konoha. The hatred will be one of fear, fear of a jinchuuriki, and not because the monster inside you killed their friends and families. It will be a lesser hate, one far more manageable, but jinchuuriki have traditionally been feared and hated for centuries. Hate will always be hate, no matter where you go. Live on, become stronger, and change the old ways, Naruto. You are your father's son and your mother's child. Their child will have the ability to change the world, I am sure of it._

* * *

"No... No more," Naruto panted heavily, struck down onto his back for the eleventh time. The sun blazed down as it neared its highest point, roasting all those who had not taken shelter during the hottest day in five years. "It's so hot... the sun... my energy... draining..." Breathing was worse, every time he inhaled, it felt as if the inside of his mouth and his throat were being scalded. _If I don't get less hot soon, I'll melt!_

"Fuck, but it's hot," Kouryou growled. "Up and at 'em, kid."

"Nooooooo."

"Real ninja will do their missions even if it's too hot or too cold."

"But I'm not a ninja yeeeet."

"Too bad, so sad." The Jounin-sensei slouched his way to the collapsed body of his pupil and pulled him to his feet by the scruff of his collar. "Now, I'm going to let go. If you don't stay standing, I'm going to make you wish you were only hot." He shoved his face into the boy's own with a menacing glare. "Got it? Good." After kicking Naruto's behind, causing the boy to stumble forward and nearly lose his balance, he clearly and slowly performed several hand seals. "Tough love is tough, never forget." The ground beneath Naruto turned into a slippery, muddy sludge, and having already been precariously balanced on one foot, the slick resulted in a comic attempt to stay standing. Kou stood over him, smirking. "I went through that slowly for you, and you still didn't dodge the Doton jutsu?"

"I was falling!" he protested.

"Ninja should have good balance. Make sure to work on that."

Naruto groaned his disapproval. _Huh?_ He tried to move his arms and legs, to no avail. _Huh? _

"Well, seeing as you can't move anymore, this concludes today's training. Tomorrow is a free day so don't bother showing up, or try to find me." Kouryou whipped out a small notebook and flipped through it nonchalantly as he walked away. "So this week is Sanya-chan..."

Naruto watched with a pained expression as his only means of movement walked away. He was so tired he couldn't even speak. Contenting himself with his fate, he gazed up at the slowly reddening sky. _Well, this isn't so bad. _The sunset was as beautiful as the sunrise. In Konoha, the giant trees blocked vision of the sunrises and sunsets most of the time, so he'd never before witnessed this natural beauty. _I miss them, but I like it here. People are nice to me. _He hoped, yet a nagging voice at the back of his head told him that the people were only nice to him because they didn't yet know what he was. When they did, they probably wouldn't let him even come near their children. Naruto bit his lip in frustration.

Then his vision was invaded by a mass of red. He yelled out in shock and, somehow, raised his head, colliding with something extremely hard. As he did, he heard another voice cry out. The aftereffects of the impact left his forehead feeling itchy, except he couldn't move his arms to scratch at it. _Stupid arms! Stupid legs! _

"That hurt!" shrieked Asuka. "What was that for?"

"You're the one that surprised me!"

"You hit me!" The accusation stung; he couldn't even move!

"I did not!"

"Did to!"

"Not!"

"To!"

He huffed, annoyed. "So, why did you come?"

"I wanted to see you get beaten into the ground, but it looks like I got here too late." She stood over him and stuck out her tongue. "So, what does dirt taste like?"

"Says the dirt girl."

"Sticks and stones," replied Asuka in a sing-song voice. "If you want me to help you, you have to beg."

"Wha-" More than being offended at being asked to beg, Naruto was surprised that she was offering to help. _Me? I thought she didn't like me. _He furrowed his brows. _Maybe she wants to trick me, but... I don't want to be here all night. _He'd have to swallow what pride had been left for him after Kouryou had smashed him into a pulp. His sapphire-blue eyes stared into her own emerald-green eyes and could see no hint of ill intent. In fact, she seemed to be waiting on his answer intently. _Here goes nothing. _"Please help me," he said in as subservient a tone as he could manage, "Asuka-hime, you're my only hope."

She grinned and grabbed his hands. "One, Two, Three!" On three, she jerked back, pulling him up to a standing position. "Be grateful, I don't help people a lot, and never for free." Her leer unsettled him. "Hm? Why aren't you going home yet? Maybe you need more help?"

His surprise had just evolved into suspicion. Naruto narrowed his eyes, contemplating what her purpose was. _She said she doesn't help for free. She knows I can't walk right now. She wants something, but what? _His gut detected a hint of danger, or perhaps that was the bruises he had on his abdomen. As much as he felt he shouldn't, he had to take the risk. "... Yes."

"So, for payment. I know daddy's giving you an allowance, so you're going to treat me to a meal."

"Just a meal?"

He knew he'd made a mistake when he saw her eyes gleam. "Oh, you think you eat a lot of ramen? I eat more. A lot more. I'm going to eat you dry."

_I knew it! _His tears streamed down his face comically. _Goodbye, ramen! Until next month! _"Just... Just do it!" he whimpered. Asuka kicked his feet out from under him and caught his legs. Immediately he cried out in embarrassment. "P-P-P-Piggyback?"

"Do you want to get home or not?"

"I do, but this is so not cool!"

The redheaded demoness raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Do you want to be carried like a princess, then?" That shut him up instantly.

The eyes of the public were unbearable. Some laughed mirthfully, others whispered with grins plastered on their faces, but the embarrassment was total as Asuka carried him on her back through the streets. She did not take any of the shortcuts, but instead chose to walk through all the main streets between the training ground and his home. Naruto began to regret his decision, something he seemed to be doing a lot recently. What he wanted to know was how she was carrying him so easily, and making good speed besides. He was older and bigger than her, and- _Hm? _A scent of trees and berries wafted up to his keen nose. _Smells nice..._

"Are you smelling me?"

"Wha- Why would I smell you!" _That was her? _

"I'm gonna throw you."

"I wasn't! I swear!" He found himself falling as she threw him over her shoulders by the arms. Naruto grunted as he hit the floor. Hearing shuffling, he peeked open his eyes to find his erstwhile savior standing over his hips. Her face was afire like the color of her hair as she raised a foot.

His scream echoed to the farthest reaches of the village. _Whyyyyyyy?_


	6. Fresh Geninhood

Well, here's a chapter. Laziness, videogames, and 32 hours of classtime per week, not to mention homework and projects, mean that I have become excruciatingly slow at updating. Now, I understand that Black Lightning is my most popular work, but I can't really come up with anything for it at the moment. Mostly because I don't want anything I've written for Black Lightning to match what I'll be doing for Tsuchi no Kuni, which is my brainchild.

Likely, I'll never get the Naruto out of my system even after the series ends, because the story that is my brainchild is far too expansive to just kill off the main character and introduce a new, less badass one just like that. Also note that if you're _ever _curious about my activity, check the top of my profile, where I occasionally drop by to edit in a status update. Usually about once a month. From now on, I'm not going to bother trying to torture myself into making each chapter at least 10,000 words, as that leads to me getting unnecessarily wordy and draining me of my passion. Let's go, FAI-TO!

* * *

_Yes! Finally! Finally I've arrived! _Giddy with excitement, Naruto could hardly sit still. Along with the other fresh Academy graduates, he sat in an unused classroom to anxiously wait for their team assignments. He'd been rookie of the year, partly due to the blond's innate potential and hard work, but mostly due to Kouryou's excellent – and excessively violent – teachings. Over years of eavesdropping and stalking, he'd managed to piece together the fact that his teacher was widely regarded as one of the best Jounin in Iwa. Not only that, but he belonged to the Tsuchikage's honor guard, accompanying the Kage whenever he left the village on official duties. The training this man had put him through had been cruel, but now, sitting here with the other graduates to wait for their platoon assignments, Naruto did not regret it. _I already know Kou-sensei will be my teacher, but I wonder who my teammates will be. Oh man, I wonder what they'll be like! _His thoughts turned to his good friends: Shou, Ichigo, and Yumi. Asuka was an enigma. They got along sometimes, but spent most of their time squabbling and fighting over mundane things. _Feels like I can never agree with her on anything. _

As the door to the classroom opened, all thoughts left his mind. He could see everyone in the room straighten up in their seats just as he did. _Please, a good team. Please,_ he prayed silently. _And maybe a cute girl. Or two. I promise I'll donate half my savings to charity if I get two girls!_

The Chuunin who taught the final year in the Academy entered with a smile. "To begin, congratulations to everyone. I know you're all eager to know your assignments so I'll skip the chitchat and get straight to it. I'll now assign you to your platoons and teachers, who will tell you everything else you need to know."

Every new Genin became visibly nervous and agitated. Right now, he felt as nervous as he'd been when he'd first arrived at the village. After training under Kouryou for so long, he became supremely confident in his own skills compared to his classmates', yet the anxiety of not knowing who his teammates would be overpowered that confidence. _There are some good Genin in the class that might be able to give me a decent fight, but I've trained under an elite Jounin for around six years. So who could they possibly make my teammates without dragging me down? _

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The blond in question refocused his attention abruptly.

"You have had quite the history here. Good... and bad." Naruto grinned in embarrassment. For a while he'd indulged in the practice of pulling pranks for his own amusement, until someone had made a comparison between him and Kouryou, at which he stopped abruptly. That and, being ahead in the schoolwork, he was always asleep in class. "In light of your advanced skills, your bad behavior notwithstanding, Tsuchikage-sama has decided to have you placed in a specially formed Genin platoon." He motioned to someone outside as Naruto wiped sweat off his brow and the class whispered amongst themselves. They didn't seem very surprised. Neither was he, yet his anxiety remained with a single question in his mind. _Who?_ "Your teammates have both been chosen for their talent and experience as ninja who have already been Genin for at least a year. Their names are... Kuribayashi Koyomi and Dainadare-"

"What? Is old man Tsuchikage crazy?" he exclaimed, shock and betrayal apparent on his expression. "She and I don't get along at all!" He turned to the guy next to him. "You're my witness. I'm going to be dead or murdered within a year. Okay? My witness!" _God, this is your fault that the charities won't be getting any money from me, ya hear?_

"It's not like I want to be paired with a fresh rookie either," Asuka griped as she strutted into the classroom as if she owned the place. Half a year younger than he was, she nevertheless struck fear into his very soul and his corporeal self still remembered the beatings he'd used to endure from her abuse. With vibrant red hair and piercing green eyes, she was like a tigress, and he was the prey. He had yet to ever win an argument with her, mostly because whenever it looked like he was winning, she had her fists do the talking.

_I guess this is what it feels like to be whipped. _He remembered laughing about whipped men with his classmates, but being the whipped one was an entirely different experience. Naruto glanced at the other entry, who had yet to speak. _God, I give my most humble thanks. _Two _girls! Though it's Asuka as well, I guess I'll have to pay up. _This girl had bone-white hair and yellow eyes. _Wow, never seen those colors before. Speaking of colors, I've never seen another person with blonde hair either... Huh, I wonder if that means anything. _

"Please get along well with me," she said. Short, business-like.

_Well, if it's Katsu-san that picked her, I won't complain. _

"Your platoon leader will be Ishishou Kouryou."

"Figures the best would get the best." This sentiment was shared by everyone in the room. The guy to his left clapped him on the back. "Don't you dare disappoint us or the village, Naruto!" Another chimed, "Yeah, show them why you're rookie of the year! And introduce me to one of those girls, if you know what I mean. Wink wink, nudge nudge."

Grinning despite his earlier outburst, Naruto waved to his classmates as he followed his platoon out. If he'd been in Konoha, would it have happened like this? Would his classmates have appreciated him for who he was? _I don't know, and I never will know. Doesn't matter anyway, what's done is done. I'm here, and that's that. _He and Asuka led the way to his signature training spot at the village's outskirts, where they, as he'd predicted, found Kouryou asleep. "Yo Kou-sensei, we're here!" Naruto tilted his head to calmly dodge two shuriken and hopped over the pitfall trap that the shuriken had been trying to distract him from, "Wha-aaaaaaaaaahh!" only to fall into a second pitfall trap as he landed.

Kouryou peered in from above, grinning and clucking his tongue. "For years I've been telling you that you have to look underneath the underneath, but you just keep on taking it literally and stopping at underneath the underneath. If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, the phrase means that you always have to watch out for traps within traps. That includes traps within traps within traps, and so on." He let down a rope. "Today, I'll be nice. We have a few things to get done, and having you climb out with just your hands would take too long."

"Now," he began after everyone was assembled, "as two of you are already experienced Genin and know the drill, it's pointless to administer the test originally given to new Genin."

"Try what?"

"A test to see if you could put aside your differences and work together. It only really works when none of the new Genin know how it works."

"Ah." That made sense.

"So, we'll just be performing regular teamwork testing and start from there. Putting the best together does not always fly very well, and teamwork is an essential trait as a ninja. Questions?"

"Wh-"

"No? Good. Let's begin." Kouryou pointed at the incensed blond. "_You _will be 'it'. The one who is 'it' is the one that needs to make contact with," he gestured to his body, "this sash around my waist within a time limit. As blondie here knows, I usually keep this sash in my back pocket for hot days, but today is a special occasion. If you manage to touch this sash of mine, you can consider yourselves either strong enough to not need teamwork or that you have sufficient teamwork that I don't need to spend the first few months drilling you all on it. If you fail, well, I've already said. You have," he set down a clock, "one hour. We begin, now."

All three surged forward without hesitation. Asuka and Koyomi did so because they didn't want to repeat those stupid teamwork drills like when they'd first become Genin, and Naruto because he had grudges to repay. And that he'd rather not do teamwork drills, which sounded extremely boring. As Koyomi performed a low, sweeping kick and Asuka executed a spinning roundhouse kick, he chose the only portion of his teacher's body that wasn't being targeted. He did a front flip and transitioned into a flying axe kick. Kouryou calmly hopped over Koyomi's attack, grabbed Asuka's leg, and used it to block Naruto's strike, before tossing both airborne Genin away and forcing the third to back off with a fierce stomp.

"That fucking hurt!" she shrilled, kicking the blond as she stood back up, "Watch where you kick, dumbass!"

"You shouldn't have been in the way then, damn ginger!"

"Say what?"

"Focus!" Koyomi barked, "We don't have time for this!"

_She's right. I need to touch that sash._ _Not to mention that all three of us came from one direction, meaning it would've been more than easy for Kou-sensei to just dodge our attacks... That he took them means he's either testing our combat ability as well or... or he's mocking us. _"I think we need regroup and think of a plan. We're not going to get anywhere using improvisation."

Koyomi nodded, as did Asuka, who thankfully remembered her priorities. The three of them fell back into a chevron formation.

A thought struck him. "You think he'll come after us?"

The redhead glanced at the blond. "Normally, I'd say no, but given that it's him..." The ground trembled slightly. "Looks like he's not going to give us the time to think up a decent plan."

They dodged the blocks of earth that shot from the ground and ran at the Jounin to close the distance. The biggest danger, now that they knew he would be counterattacking, would be to stay far enough to be unable to enter into close quarters combat, but close enough that he could just lob technique after technique at them to keep them at range. A dead zone where they would not be able to launch an offensive.

"We need to separate his attention somehow!"

"Yes, lets, because some Genin can _obviously_ distract a seasoned Jounin," Asuka shouted back sarcastically as she avoided a lazy front kick.

"Oh, like _you _have any ideas?" _This, is not going well. _He gave a pleading expression to the calm one on the platoon. Koyomi began performing hand seals with a sharp look that he interpreted as 'keep the Jounin occupied'. _Okie dokie. _He went down on one knee and made the Rat hand seal. Naruto grinned cockily as he saw Kouryou's expression and demeanor change visibly. His teacher leaping backwards gave enough time for Koyomi to finish her seals and Asuka to follow suit with the Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (1). He burst into a sprint as fast as he could, now consciously utilizing chakra to boost his speed. Kouryou had gotten caught by the ankles, but, being an experienced Jounin specializing in Earth techniques, had not been pulled into the ground up to his head. Fortunately, before he could break free his arms had been restrained by the almost ethereal wolves that had burst from the ground. _I've only got one shot at this. _He stomped down and jumped using both legs.

Kouryou would not make this so easy. He, using brute strength, tore his arms free and struck at the incoming blond.

"So... close!" moaned Naruto, his fingers inches from the sash before being knocked back. They'd failed. _That bluff won't work a second time._ But before he knew what was going on, he was once again speeding towards his teacher, whose eyes had widened. At such close range and at such speed, he felt his body ram into his teacher's. He flailed wildly as pain assaulted his backside, and managed to grab onto something. That something being the sash.

…

Half an hour later and Kouryou was still annoyed. Not only had he found out that his protege's "technique" from the Nara clan had been a complete bluff, but he'd had the sash taken moments after he'd believed himself to have won. As it turned out, Asuka had decided not to leave the sash grabbing completely to her teammate. When he'd been knocked back, she'd performed a chakra-enhanced flying kick to his backside to send him forward once more. As much as the blond appreciated that he'd gotten the sash, his back was still sore from the attack.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you guys got the sash," Kouryou announced, "albeit in a manner that was as much a sacrifice of your teammate as it was teamwork."

"And my bluff!" Naruto grinned. "Don't forget that, Kou-sensei."

His teacher scoffed. "That only worked because I knew the circumstances of your arrival. Normally, one would not think that someone that is mostly unrelated to the Nara clan would be able to perform, much less know the technique."

"Maybe I knew that you knew and used it against you in that way," retorted the blond. _And it's true, I've been saving that trump card to humiliate Kou-sensei for _so long! He could feel his teacher's evaluative eyes on him and grinned confidently.

It must have convinced him, because Kouryou chuckled lightly. "I see. I confess, I've underestimated your _cunning_, Naruto. Yes, an important lesson as a ninja is to never reveal all your cards. Always keep something up your sleeves to keep your enemy guessing." The older man pointed at the blond and redhead. "You two, the most problematic members of the team, pass my secondary test: You'd rather work together and win than fight with each other and lose. Your priorities are right and your teamwork merely acceptable. It took you ten minutes to achieve success. Even though I was fighting on a Chuunin level as a handicap, my perception is still at Jounin level and there's no way you would've been able to pull something like that again, and you would have eventually failed to touch this sash. You succeeded where it counted."

Naruto exchanged pleased glances with his new teammates. He'd spent years training for this, and now he was officially a shinobi of Iwagakure. Though Koyomi and Asuka already had experience as Genin, he knew they disliked losing as much as he did. Otherwise they couldn't have worked together like that. _I wonder when we get our first mission! I know that regular Genin platoons have to spend a long time __doing menial tasks, but I bet we get to go straight into battle, seeing as we're a special platoon! I can't wait! _Finally, he could show his worth and his gratitude to a village that had taken him in. Granted, few knew of his status as a jinchuuriki.

"Alright. We're done for today. We will meet here again in three days. If something comes up before a scheduled meeting, I will contact you all personally. Rest up, pat yourselves on the back, and prepare for an even more hellish regimen!" Kouryou's eyes glinted maliciously. "You are the best of your generation in Iwa, but I will turn you into the best of the best! No pain, no gain. Dismissed!"

* * *

"Mama, I'm home," she called as she closed the door behind her.

"Welcome home, Koyomi," her foster mother called from the kitchen. "How was your new platoon?"

"It was... okay." She avoided the question. Koyomi had liked her old platoon. It didn't have two constantly arguing idiots. They were skilled, no doubt about that, but... "They were..." she struggled to find a word that wouldn't be excessively negative, "unique."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Later, mama," she called as she trudged up the stairs to her bedroom. She flopped down on her bed and stared listlessly at the ceiling. Toying with strands of her white hair, she absentmindedly began to recite the information she knew about her platoon. "Dainadare Asuka. Hot-tempered, excels in every aspect, daughter of the Tsuchikage. Uzumaki Naruto. Hot-tempered, excels in direct combat, prankster and tactician. Ishishou Kouryou. Cruel, yet kind, excels in every aspect, elite Jounin. And me, Kuribayashi Koyomi. Calm and collected, excels in indirect combat, intellectual." She'd seen every single one of them at one point or another, whether it was in passing or meeting. You could tell a lot about a person by what they do in their free time. Both Asuka and Naruto, she knew, spent most of their time training, determined to show each other up, unable to accept inferiority as a ninja. Unlike the blond, she and Asuka had been briefed on their reallocation quite a while before his graduation.

As she knew the redhead had done research on her, she had done research on her teammates. _To be fair, it _is _an all-star team, _she conceded. _We aren't completely incapable, and we each have our own strengths to complement each other. _Theoretically, they had the potential to be one of the best Genin platoons of all time. Although... _I know that ninja don't always have to get along with one another, the best teamwork comes from respecting each others' abilities and acknowledging that there will be differences in methodology and personality. Those two, on the other hand, are so hostile with each other that they can only manage a modicum of teamwork. _She sighed. _That leaves me to be the carry. Typical. _

She was already fifteen, yet because of this setback she probably wouldn't see Chuunin rank for another year or two. Koyomi rolled on her side to hug her pillow. "It's not fair! I should be a Chuunin already! Why should I have to wait for some newbie?"

True, the blond was special. Everyone knew that. Special training under one of the village's best Jounin, a casual relationship with the Tsuchikage, and that incident five years ago... She still remembered. Koyomi doubted that anyone had forgotten it. When a member of Konoha's elite ANBU unit had been found to have infiltrated deep into the village, it had entered a state of emergency and lockdown. She had been on her way home from Academy when she'd seen it, the blond talking with a masked, grey-haired individual. An individual wearing the uniform of Konoha's ANBU.

She'd been too far to listen in on what had been said, but it was obvious the man had known Naruto. At first, his shoulders had tensed, then drooped as if he were sad, but straightened up as if relieved. To this day, she speculated on the reason why she hadn't been detected by an elite shinobi. Perhaps it was her lack of hostility, or negligible chakra signature. Perhaps she hadn't been deemed a threat, or that the ANBU didn't care at all. Whatever the case, she knew there was something about the blond that attracted people to him. Unsatisfied with being kept in the dark, she resolved to solve the mystery of the blond. _But first, a bath. _

The bathtub in her house was large enough to stretch her legs out in, thankfully. After stripping down, Koyomi sat down on the stool and doused herself with hot water, then proceeding with the maintenance of her long hair. _Shampoo. Conditioner. Clean skin. Body wash. Rinse. _Only after did she slip into the scalding hot water of the bathtub.

She always felt better while taking a bath. The water heated her up and let her relax. "Ahh." Sinking down to her chin, she reveled in its warmth.

"Koyomi!" her mother called, "After you're done, come and help me with dinner!"

"Yes, mama!"

"And do tell me about your teammates!"

She did not bother replying. She didn't want to have to think about such annoying things during her me-time. After all, she'd have nothing better to do than think about them, now that they were her permanent teammates. _Great. Just great. They even plague me with bad premonitions even when I'm alone. _She sighed. _This is going to suck._

* * *

Naruto gazed silently at the picture frame he held. _Joy. Team. Pride. _His fingers lightly touched the widely smiling face of his father. This was his treasure. His father looked so happy with his platoon, a goggle-wearing boy having a glare war with the smaller masked teammate, with the nervously smiling young girl in the middle. _On the other hand, Koyomi is aloof and Asuka is mean. _

He still remembered how he'd gotten the photograph. He'd been young, but not young enough to forget the distinctive uniform of Konoha's ANBU unit. One of the first things he'd done was memorize the slight differences between every nation's uniforms. As a kid he had idolized those who were considered the best of the best, regardless of allegiance. He still didn't know why he hadn't run when he'd first seen that uniform. But now, he felt glad that he didn't.

…

_Five years ago_

_It gets so dark here_, Naruto whined, _They need more lights_. Finally, he'd finished his first week of ninjutsu training and he was looking forward to a week of delightful rest. "Kou-sensei is too _mean_. I'm just a kid!" he huffed. _Still, he's going to help me get stronger. _The conflicting emotions of gratitude and dislike waged a mental war. He'd walked this road home so many times, yet he still felt like a stranger. Especially at night, when nearly everyone was already at home. The empty streets reminded him too much of his nights of hiding back in Konoha, sitting in a corner of a dark alley trying desperately to stay as small as possible.

It had never been the beatings that he'd truly feared, but the looks of hate and the sharpness of their words.

_Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Yeah right..._

Loneliness and isolation were so much more painful than simple physical pain. They could never understand. They never even tried.

Naruto paused as a siren began to wail. He could hear the sirens activate one after another as guard posts were notified. Deciding he should hurry home, he turned, coming face to face with a man clad in a dark cloak. He gasped, his heart stammering in his chest. _For me? _Naruto's breathing quickened as the man approached quickly. _Is he going to take me back? I don't want to go back! Is he going to kill me? I don't want to be killed! _He flinched and whimpered when he saw the hand stretch out. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes slowly. The man, the ANBU, was kneeling in front of him.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

He nodded quickly.

"I'm here to ask if you want to go back to the village."

The blond adopted a quixotic expression. "Ask? Not take?" The ANBU drew back his hood, letting the youngster to recognize his ruffled silver hair. "Oh! You're that guy that sometimes watches me at night."

Kakashi paused, taking in the knowledge that the boy had known he'd been being watched. "That's right. I'm a friend."

"If you were a friend, why didn't you help me," Naruto accused, though in his mind he knew that there had to be reasons. Not even old man Sandaime had been able to help him all the time. And thinking about it now, he'd never had trouble during the nights that this silver-hair had watched him.

"Naruto. Why don't you come back with me? You... you could live with me, and you wouldn't ever have to hide."

He'd had enough dealings with untruthful and deceitful characters to innately feel that the ANBU was speaking the truth. But... "Sorry mister, but... I like it here. I have friends. They're nice to me and don't say mean things to me." _Asuka. _"Mostly," he corrected.

"I don't have much more time, but Naruto, your father never wanted this for you." He put his hands around the boy's shoulders. "He always, always wanted for you to be seen as a hero. For keeping the village safe from that monster. If your father could have seen what the villagers do to you, he'd be..."

"Angry?"

"Worse."

"Really mad?"

"Mad enough to hurt everyone who hurt you. You're his only son, and I'm his last student."

"Student?"

"That's right. Your father used to be my teacher in our ninja platoon."

The blond's eyes lighted up. "Really? Cool! Was he really strong? He was a Hokage, right?"

"He was _really _strong. He died so young, but he could have been the strongest shinobi in the world. Everyone was scared of your dad. No one wanted to fight him. He even stopped Kyuubi." Kakashi poked Naruto's stomach. "And you, you can be as great as him. You have your mother and father's blood."

Naruto hesitated. _I have friends here. But this guy is nice. But people are still going to hate me in __Konoha. But people here don't know what I am. I had friends in Konoha too... but... _"Sorry, mister, but... I want to stay. Here."

Kakashi hung his head. "Naruto, do you hate Konoha for what they did?"

"... Nope!" He grinned. "Kyuubi killed a lot of people, right? Being alone hurts... I still want to get back at them, hurt them because they hurt me. But now..." He became pensive, "I just want to stay here, where I won't hate anyone and no one will hate me." Smiling again, Naruto reached out and touched the porcelain mask. "It's fun here. I won't hate Konoha, but I don't want to go back either."

"I see. That's relieving." The taller man began fishing in his back pockets. "It looks like I can't convince you to come back, but that's your choice. I respected your father, but failed to protect you, so I have no right to make decisions for you. But, I'm glad that you won't hate Konoha. Your father loved the village, loved it enough to die for it, and you. Here." He handed over a small slip. "Of all the pictures I have with your dad in them, this one is the closest to my heart. The day we became a team and he became my teacher." Kakashi stood. "I have to go, they'll be here soon. I hope we'll see each other again some day." In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

…

Naruto chuckled, remembering the things he'd said. Now he was older and he knew better about his decision. Laying down on the bed and looking out at the sunset, he did not regret it all. All the loneliness he'd felt had been dispelled by the people here. And he'd said what had been in his heart. _I __know now what the villagers must have felt when they saw me. I don't blame them. I wasn't the monster, and they probably knew that, but they had to have somewhere to vent their grief and frustration. Training with Kou-sensei all these years has taught me that battle scars people. Sometimes __permanently. _He flexed his hand, calloused and rough with constant training. _Rather, I can't blame them. The hate I felt was the same hate they felt. Like I didn't know why they hurt me, and hated them for it, they didn't know why they had to lose what was important to them, and hated me for it. Call me __philosophical, but I had a lot of time to sort out my feelings and thoughts. _

Smiling lightly, Naruto sat up abruptly. "Hungry. Let's not eat ramen today." He gazed balefully at the growth chart drawn on the wall next to his bed. _Taller. Taller. Taller. I want to get taller. _Opening the window, he nimbly hopped out and into the street. _I wonder, what would I have been like if I'd stayed, or gone back? _

"Food!" was the shout as he began running down the street, much to the mirth of everyone else.

* * *

"Well now, isn't this interesting." He swiveled his head slowly, taking in the new set of three people seated in front of him.

"What's interesting, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm... What's interesting is your..." Kakashi peered tiredly at the two boys who refused to look each other in the eye, "teamwork, I'd say. Or lack thereof. Well. Let's begin with some introductions. Tell me your names, likes, dislikes, aspirations for the future, stuff like that. You, the nerd, start."

"I'm not a nerd!" He huffed. "My name is Asagiri Kaito, I like learning new things, dislike_ geniuses _who have it easy, and my dream is to become the number one shinobi, the Hokage!" At that last word, he thrust his hand up and pointed to the sky. "The sky is the limit! Nothing can stop me from achieving my dream! Hahaha!"

_Great, an eccentric. _"Pinkette, you're next."

"Speaking of introductions, maybe you could tell us a bit about yourself, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Mm, well my name's Hatake Kakashi. My likes are, well, hm... And my dislikes are... Dreams for the future... I have some."

The deadpan looks he got from all three brought a small smile to his mask-covered face. "Pinkette."

"Haruno Sakura. I like," she leered at the last boy. "I dislike stupid guys that get in my way. And my dreams for the future," she leered again.

_Hoh boy. Just what I need, another girl that became a kunoichi for such a shallow reason. _"You, dark, broody, and handsome. Next."

"Uchiha Sasuke. I like few things, dislike many. My dream is to rebuild my clan, and to kill a certain someone."

_Ah, yes. _"So, we're now a team. Let's go over some ground rules: You follow my orders, don't overly bug me, and never leave a teammate behind." Kakashi clasped his fingers. "Now, you may have graduated from the Academy, but don't think you're Genin just yet."

"What?" the pinkette and brunette both shouted. "What do you mean we're not Genin?"

"Exactly what I meant." _Same routine, every time. _"Graduating from the Academy _qualifies _you to become a Genin. What we will be seeing shortly is whether you will become Genin or be sent back to the Academy for another year. Here's a fun fact: seventy percent of graduates will repeat a year in the Academy." He waited for this fact to rear its ugly head, watching their expressions change slowly from dawning comprehension to sinking horror. _Well, at least this year's expressions are one of the better ones, should they fail like the other teams._ Kakashi gave a sidelong glance at the Uchiha. _So he's the one... _Kakashi could almost feel his left eye itch in familiarity. _So, will you become an avenger or a savior? _

"This is bullshit," Kaito growled, "I worked _so _hard to pass the final exam and now we have _another _test?"

_Too bad, so sad. A ninja should be prepared for anything. _"Regardless of your complaints, I will be administering this test tomorrow morning." He leered at them. "I advise you not to eat breakfast, or your breakfast might end up back outside." Kakashi handed out three small maps with instructions. "We will meet at this training ground at 0600 sharp. Don't be late."

…

"Ugh," the cyclops groaned, "I'm getting too old to be babysitting."

"Kakashi!" reprimanded Hiruzen, "You're only twenty-six! If _you _feel like you're getting old, think about how this old man feels. Damned paperwork..." The Hokage leaned back into his chair and rummaged for his trusty pipe. Lighting it after a few failed tries, he asked, "How was Team Seven? Skillwise, they are balanced, but... well, you know youngsters and their rivalries."

Kakashi tapped on the cover of his erotic literature as he sought the correct words to use. "The Kaito kid and Sasuke's fangirl could both be decent ninja if they were more reasonable and down-to-earth. It looks like she joined to find love and he joined to fulfill his comic book fantasies."

"And Sasuke?"

"He... worries me." He scratched his head. "I can't explain what it is about him, but I don't like it. And his drive... It's the same drive that I had in my desire to live up to my father's achievements, my desire to overcome the circumstances of his suicide. The same drive that caused me to lose my best friend."

"That death, however, opened your eyes. It changed you. As sorrowful as Obito's passing was, to his friends and especially to his family and you, without his death as the catalyst, the you now would be different, if non-existent. The you now is capable of protecting that which is precious to you."

"That might be true, Hokage-sama, but I will never be able to rid myself of the guilt that plagues me. The best I can do is to never make the same mistake again. But Sasuke, it looks as if he is more than willing to go further than that. He seeks to live up to his clan's reputation, and at the same time surpass the circumstances of their destruction."

"Itachi." Hiruzen swiveled his chair to face out the window behind his desk.

A long pause followed, in which Kakashi stood uneasily. _It looks like Hokage-sama is experiencing conflict, but about what? _It wasn't often that he'd seen his leader look so troubled. Though the man was full of sympathy and empathy, as the leader of the village he more often than not hid his real emotions under a veil of careful indifference. _What are you thinking about? What do you want to tell me? _The minutes passed gruelingly as he waited.

"Kakashi, what I am about to tell you right now must never leave this room, on your oath as a shinobi of Konoha."

"Hokage-"

"Kakashi. Your word."

The cold tone those words were said in set chills down his spine. "I give you my word, on penalty of death, that I will not reveal the information you are about to diverge, unless otherwise specified by your order."

"Good. I chose you as the recipient for this information because of your love for your teacher and your dedication and care to the village. There are precious few that I can trust like this, Kakashi. I hope you don't betray the trust I am putting in you."

"Never. Betraying you would be betraying the village. Betraying the village would be betraying the faith sensei had in me."

Hiruzen nodded. "Kakashi, you _must _know this, and Sasuke must _never_ find out until the appointed time."

"Sasuke, sir?"

"Yes, this matter is closely related to him. Or rather, to the circumstances that made him an orphan."

The chills came back in full force. "Hokage-sama, do you mean to say...?"

"That's right." A grim expression appeared on the old man's normally kindly face. "The Uchiha Massacre... was perpetrated by none other than the highest echelons within Konoha. That is, the Elders and myself. On Uchiha Itachi, who held the village before his clan and, like you, one I held in complete faith, we placed an enormous burden: To exterminate his own clan."

It was as if he'd been slapped. "But Sasuke-"

"Sasuke was his failure. He loved his brother too much to kill him, as was the plan." Hiruzen rubbed his eyes tiredly. "You must understand, Kakashi, that the circumstances dictated that we take extreme action. You see, the Uchiha clan was planning an insurrection."

"Preposterous... How could they even consider..."

"In hindsight, it does seem so," the aging leader agreed, "but we had only recently been savaged by the Kyuubi and lost that great and charismatic leader, Minato. To experience a civil war on top of that without sufficient time to recover, Konoha would have fallen, whether from internal strife or external conflict. We could not risk endangering the entire populace, no, the entire country, for the mad ambitions of a single clan. And so we asked of Itachi to take the road less traveled, the road of darkness. He would take upon the sins of his clan and be labeled a criminal, mass murderer, traitor. For the sake of his village, he would give up his clan, his life, and his future."

"A Byronic hero..."

"Kakashi, it was Itachi's desire for Sasuke to become stronger to eventually kill him. Why, you might ask? Sometime during his service in the ANBU, Itachi contracted a fatal disease that worsens over time and with chakra usage."

"I can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like, to have your ninja career cut short like that. To have all that talent and genius and succumb to something like that."

"That is why, Kakashi, Itachi wants Sasuke to kill him. Because it is inevitable, and because it will provide both those poor children with closure. Kakashi, there is no doubt in my mind that your team will pass the true Genin exam. After all, they remind me of a certain team back in the day that produced one of the village's best Jounin. But you cannot let tragedy repeat itself. Train Sasuke and watch over him, so that the darkness within his heart does not consume him." Hiruzen stood and looked him in the eyes. "For Konoha's sake, you must succeed where all else would fail."

_For the village that my teacher loved. For the village my best friend wanted to protect. For the village my father died for. _Kakashi clicked his heels together and gave the best salute Konoha had seen in many years. "Yes, sir!"

* * *

Naruto groaned, stretching from his sleeping position against a tree. "We've been here _all morning_. When is Kou-sensei going to show up?"

"How the hell should I know?"

Even with his eyes closed, the sharp tone of that tigress could not be mistaken. _I wonder if I'll ever hear her talk nicely. At least the breeze is nice. _What Iwa lacked in scenery, it made up in its weather. Farther from the equator, Iwa's weather, like Konoha's, was temperate much of the time. The nice weather _almost _made him forget that he and his teammates had been waiting for the past three hours, having arrived at the break of dawn as per Kouryou's orders. _Dust, dirt, and wasteland. All you can see for miles around. Now that I think about it, Konoha wasn't much better. Dirt, trees, and more trees. Haa, at least it had more color than this place. Whatever, I can't bear to look at more brown right now. _He heard Asuka huff impatiently. _I don't blame her. _

Surprisingly, Koyomi also let out a noise of exasperation. "I'm sick and tired of both of your complaints. Either sit down and shut up or go somewhere else to complain."

"Bitch, why don't you say that to my face?"

Pain erupted in his sides. "OW! What the hell?" Naruto opened his eyes quickly to find himself under attack. "Asuka! Why the heck are you kicking me?" He shielded his body with his arms, curling up into a ball. "Ow! Quit it!"

"Shut up and let me take out my anger on you!"

"No! It hurts, damn it!"

"Why don't you fight back?" Koyomi asked, resting her chin on her hands.

"I can't hit girls!"

"Oh?" Her expression darkened. "Are you trying to say that you think we're weaker than you? That why you don't hit girls?"

"N-No! Ow! Just that- ow! This isn't the time nor- ow! place to hit a girl!"

"Where would be an appropriate time or place to hit one, then? Humor me."

"Ow! The kitchen?"

"Wrong answer."

"Ow! Not you too! Jesus, ow! It was a joke! Ow! A joke!"

"Ladies, I would appreciate it if you didn't beat your teammate half to death." Kouryou had finally arrived. "He might be an idiot, but he's _my _idiot, and you can only beat him half to death with my permission."

"That's so gay."

Kouryou kicked the blond one last time for good measure, resulting in a final yelp of pain.

…

"So. I'm pretty sure I've seen what I need to see, but... What do you think of each other?"

"Violent!" Naruto immediately curled up as he was assaulted by stones. "See!"

"Mm, nah, I'd say it's just you being you, kid." He glanced at Koyomi, whose face was slowly reddening in anger. _I thought she'd be more introverted, but looks like she's taken well to Naruto. If she didn't care, she wouldn't be getting angry over his occasional insights into complete idiocy. _"What about the other two?"

"One is capable and the other is an idiot," Asuka and Koyomi both said simultaneously.

"Hey!"

"Well, I can't deny that, can I?"

"Kou-sensei! At least take my side, will you?"

The brunette sneered. "Sides? What sides? I'm a teacher. That means I have to be, and am, impartial." Kouryou flipped his shaggy hair arrogantly. "If you want to stop being called an idiot, then stop being an idiot. It's that simple."

"... But I don't think I act like an idiot..."

"Moving on, I don't have a mission for you three." He glared at the blond before the boy could speak. "You three are probably the best Genin in the village. Unfortunately, probably is not definite, and I refuse to go on a C-Rank mission with Genin who I can't know for sure will be able to take care of themselves if things go awry."

"I've gone on C-Rank missions before," objected Asuka.

"So have I," Koyomi agreed.

"So you have. With your own teams. This is a new team, and if you three can't guarantee perfect teamwork, even if you hate each others' guts, then I can't possibly take you three into a situation where anything can happen. For all we know, a C-Rank mission could suddenly become an A-Rank mission. Do you three think you could defeat an A-Rank ninja?"

"No." All three Genin hung their heads.

"Ninja must be prepared for anything. And until I know you three are prepared for anything, we are going to train. I am going to train your asses off. You'll wish that you were dead, because I plan on turning you three, as per Tsuchikage-sama's orders, into the best damn platoon the village has ever seen. Prepare yourself for a regimen-from-hell and an avalanche of D-Rank missions!"

The genin groaned.

* * *

(1) Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Style: Headhunter Technique) – The user digs underground, assisted by chakra, until they're underneath the target, then grabs them by the ankle and pulls them down up to their head, hence the name of the technique. Meant to incapacitate rather than do any lasting harm.


	7. Hot Spring Camaraderie

The hardest thing about writing an original scenario is writing the most boring part about a scenario: The build-up, the exposition, the character development. Not to worry though, I'll never be truly dead. Feel free to send me your suggestions on my writing, seeing as I have no betas to read through it other than myself.

Do note that if there are any problems with the story, it's because once you read over it 30 times everything looks the same. Old hat, the reason why a beta or two is generally necessary, but my activity is too irregular for that.

* * *

"Oh. my. GOD. Why am I still doing D-Rank missions?!" Naruto burst out in the middle of his pacing. He was on the verge of pulling out his hairs like a madman, he was so fed up with doing menial chores.

Neither Asuka nor Koyomi could give a satisfactory reply because they felt the same way, and so remained silent.

"Three weeks..." Naruto moaned, falling to his knees. "Three weeks of doing chores and picking up trash. What did I do to deserve this?" he questioned the sky rhetorically, arms held high in dramatic fashion.

"You exist," his teammates answered in synchronicity without missing a beat.

Naruto frowned as he turned to look at the two girls, adopting an expression of being offended. "You two are _still _on me about that? I said I was sorry."

Koyomi rubbed her temples tiredly. "Quit your whining, I can't take it this early in the morning."

"That's what she said."

Koyomi slammed a kunai into the ground, a silent, menacing smile appearing on her face. "_This _is why we're still on about that, you chauvinistic monkey."

"I don't even know what that means."

"My point exactly."

"Pfft, what_ever_."

"SHUT UP!" Asuka shrieked, hands over her ears, "The two of you are the most annoying existences in my life!"

Naruto scoffed, "You should listen to a recording of yourself."

"Bitch, I'll teach _you _what happens when you stop fearing me!" Red leapt on blond and the former began beating the shit out of the latter handily.

"God, this team," Koyomi moaned, face in her palms.

"Who started the party without me?" Kouryou sidled up casually to the trio. "Alright, break this up, break it up." The four of them ten sat in silence, the three Genin clearly looking annoyed at the Jounin's smug smile and late arrival. "This kind of abysmal team relationship is why you can't have the good things in life. True teamwork is more important than just being able to passably work together on the field."

"Get to the point, sensei."

"As you will, Asuka-chan. You see, normally this level of teamwork would be fine, but we aren't a normal case. The hope is that you three become the best damn team the village has seen in decades, and that means that I can't settle for anything but the best out of you three."

Asuka tapped her feet impatiently, playing the dangerous game of interrupting her teacher yet again. "The point. The _point_."

Kouryou frowned at the redhead in apparent displeasure. "The point is, I want cordial, if not friendly, relations between the three of you off the field. Enmity between each other only means that there's more of a chance to screw up during a mission. That said, go home and pack for an overnight trip. For the next mission we'll be leaving the village." Their eyes brightened visibly. "Before some of you," he glanced at the blond, "get any ideas, it's still a D-Rank mission. A renowned hot spring is having trouble meeting demand after a few of its employees have fallen sick."

"Hot spring!?" A certain white-haired individual perked up visibly at the words.

"For work, not pleasure." Kouryou warily scrutinized his now sparkling student.

"Work up a pile of sweat and have the pleasure of helping out later."

He opened his mouth as if to try correcting her yet again, but closed it after some consideration. "This girl is in for one hell of a wake-up call," he mumbled to himself. "We'll meet at the north gate in two hours. Pack for two nights, three days. That is all."

Naruto watched his leader's backside recede for a short while before turning to ask Asuka, "Have you ever been to a hot spring before?"

"No, but _that one _probably has, why don't you ask her?"

"But I don't want to talk to _that one_."

* * *

"How did it come to this…" _that one_ glumly mopped the kitchen tile. "We've come all this way to a hot spring but it's so busy that we have no free time. Ah, fate, how can you be so cruel?"

"You think you have it tough?" Naruto displayed his cut-ridden fingers. "I _never _knew that cutting vegetables could be so dangerous." He sighed, continuing to peel potatoes. "I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a potato the same ever again."

"At least what you're doing is practical."

"Practically dangerous."

"Don't tempt me. You know, it's your and Asuka's fault that we're stuck doing D-Rank missions week in, week out."

He nearly dropped the hand peeler. "_Huh_?! _My _fault?!"

"If you two weren't constantly bickering with each other, and if you weren't a chauvinistic dick, our teamwork wouldn't be so terrible." She grimaced as the dirty water in the bucket grew murkier. "Disgusting."

"Our teamwork is better than any other team's, Kou-sensei said so!" protested Naruto, waving the peeler animatedly.

"He also said that that wasn't good enough for us, and don't wave that at me you idiot, you could hurt someone like that."

"…"

The head chef stuck his head out of the kitchen adopting a severe expression. "HEY! Hurry up with the potatoes, kid! Dinner needs to be served in two hours!"

"S-Sorry sir!" Naruto hurriedly resumed his potato peeling. "Ow!" He peered at the cut on his thumb as it bled freely. "Damn it…"

"Getting careless because you panicked. Nice application of what you learned in school."

"Shut up! This kind of scratch is nothing."

Sighing, Koyomi withdrew a bandaid from her pocket. "And what happens when you collapse from blood loss? Hold still, you brat." She deftly wrapped his thumb. "Don't expect me to cover for you every time you make a mistake."

"Do you always carry that sort of stuff around?" He was slightly incensed at the jab, but knew when he couldn't win an argument. Koyomi was always the calmest one in their platoon during a mission.

She replied rhetorically, "Do people get injured?"

"I hate people who answer a question with another question." Naruto resumed his potato peeling, this time at a more sedate pace. "I hate not getting a straight answer."

"I hate people who don't know their own limits."

"Hah! There is nothing in this world that can limit me!"

"Hhhhh..."

Silence fell between the two as Koyomi finished mopping the floor. She put away the supplies and turned to leave when a soft murmur caught the edge of her hearing. "Did you say something?" Koyomi looked back at the blond to find him looking stubbornly away, a tint of red on his cheeks.

"Th-Thanks. For the bandaid."

She stared at him, dumbfounded for a moment at the heartfelt thanks she'd just received, before smiling and leaving without another word.

...

...

"Is every day going to be like this one?" The whining that his platoon had come to dread had started again.

"Quit your whining."

"No seriously, are we gonna have to do this for two more d-oomf"

"Quit your whining means quit your whining." Asuka looked annoyed. "You're not the only one suffering." She held up two more pillows. "Care to keep going or will I have to knock your block off next time?"

"Hah, what could a pillow do?"

"Say hello to the pillow of your demise, you dumb blond!" The full force of Asuka's body slam, who had worn the pillowcase, struck his face. Under the force of her repeated strikes, he curled up into the fetal position.

"Uncle, uncle!"

All the while, Kouryou lay on his side, watching the scuffle with an expression of utter boredom. "Ah... It was funny the first few times but a routine repeated so often gets stale."

"What about this looks like a routine to you? Help me, Kou-sensei!"

"Help? Help... Help! I have no idea what that word means."

"You're a liar and you know it! Hey, stop! St-urk!"

"Stranglehold of justice!"

Kouryou sighed. After work, he had to put up with their antics. Sure, it was an expression and realization of their youth, but they were _too_ youthful. From the look of silent, subdued exasperation on his face, it was obvious that he had never been that rowdy as a Genin, if ever. The entire room stunk of confusion. It seemed like forever until the two finally finished fighting, at which point Kouryou volunteered a suggestion.

"How about we do something fun to break the ice?"

Naruto glanced apprehensively at his teacher, knowing that the man's sense of fun was somewhat distorted from regular views.

"Let's play Truth or Da-rf" Naruto silently held the pillow against his teacher's face, a look of burgeoning horror spreading like wildfire across his face. "KID, DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?" Kouryou roared, throwing the pillow away and placing the blond in a painful armlock. The blond screamed his submission, which completely flew over the man's head. "INSOLENT! Or do you think I'd let you off that easy?"

Asuka and Koyomi looked at each other for a short moment.

"Well. I don't know about you guys, but _I'm _hittin' the hay."

"No, wait, we still have to- JESUS!" Naruto pulled frantically at Kouryou's hair in vengeance.

"Yeeeeah, I'm going to sleep too." Koyomi turned away as Kouryou performed a splendid German Suplex on the blond.

...

...

...

Naruto groaned as he pushed the rag cloth, also known as the hand-powered mop, across the floor. _I can't take much more of this_. He looked over to the bespectacled assistant manager supervising the cleaning. For some reason, he was the only one that had a watcher assigned to him as he did the chores. _I don't think I did a bad job yesterday either... _Over and over and over, he adjusted the cloth and went in overlapping lines, occasionally rinsing it. Oh the tedium. "Tell me again why I can't just use a vacuum?"

"I've already told you twice, kid."

"Yeah well, I've got a bad memory."

"A vacuum would damage the fine wood finish on the floor. As a hot spring inn, our priority lies in satisfying our customers and giving them a splendid atmosphere in which to relax, not to make it easy on ourselves and cause unnecessary damage to the architecture."

"The problem is, I'm not a customer," the blond bemoaned.

"Indeed, that is why you need to work hard and appreciate just how much work _we _put in to make your life easy and comfortable the next time you go to a high-class hot spring like this one."

"Oh, I'll appreciate it. I'll appreciate running your scrawny butt into the ground with illogical demands."

His supervisor smirked mockingly. "Like you could afford it."

"I could! I _so _totally could! Just wait and see, I'll become a great ninja and have an awesome income!"

"Get back to work!"

"But I'm done."

"Then give me that cloth and go dust out the futons while the patrons are up and out. You're not being paid to sit around."

"Yeah, yeah."

The manager rapped his pencil on Naruto's head. "Don't say it twice like that."

"... Yes," he muttered, walking away while gingerly rubbing his head.

"Futon, futon, fuuuton... Fuuton! I wish I knew Fuuton jutsu... Ggkh!" He struggled with the futon as he walked bowlegged to a window where he could hang it. "Why am I doing this, I'm only thirteen!" With a heave of effort, he hung it over the windowsill. "And... I'm supposed... to do... this... for all the other rooms?!" he panted. _I don't think I'm going to survive this. _After he finished dusting the futon and dragged it back to its original room, he forced his protesting body to the next. Being so large and hard to see around, it couldn't be helped that he nearly ran into Asuka and Koyomi as he exited the room. Naruto watched his two harried teammates give him dark looks before leaving without a word, carrying the stack of breakfasts to the different rooms. _I guess they have it tough too. _

When he was just about done dusting all the futons that needed to be dusted, the door to the room opened abruptly.

"What are you doing in here?" asked the large, angular man. He had sharp, thin eyes and a muscular build. Right off the bat, he gave the impression that he did shady things for a living. It helped that he could see the tip of a large-scale tattoo sticking out the side of his shirt.

"As you can see, I'm taking your futon to dust it."

The plentiful sarcasm that he'd dripped his words in flew straight over the man's head, who growled, "Get the hell out of here!"

"What the hell, I'm just doing my job!" Incensed at what seemed to be undeserved hostility, Naruto metaphorically raised his haunches, disregarding in the process the prime rule of service: The customer is always right until proven wrong.

"Invading my privacy is doing your job?!"

"Look, if you didn't want me in here, then you should've notified the staff, yeah?"

"Brat, do you think I'd forget something like that if I didn't want anyone in here? I definitely, specifically told the assistant manager to not have this room entered yesterday!"

"Then don't be getting angry at me, get mad at that jerk for not telling me!"

"He may be at fault, but he's not the one in this room, right here, right now, is he?" The bulky man crossed his arms, daring the blond to try and argue the matter further. "Now, get, out."

"Or else what?" The blond rose to take the challenge, not willing to step down before recovering some of his injured pride.

"..."

"..."

The two stared each other down, and when it seemed like the situation would surpass its boiling point, the sliding door opened abruptly. "There you are! What are you doing in here when a customer is inside!" Lightning fast, he reached out and began to pull Naruto out of the room by the ear. "My apologies, dear customer. As you can see, our part-timer is both hotheaded _and _idiotic. Please don't hold it against us." He bowed deeply before closing the door, then dragged Naruto outside. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded. "No matter what the customer says, the customer is always right until proven wrong! It is not your place to get into an argument with a customer, not to mention being exceedingly rude!"

"But-"

"No buts! I've had enough of your antics today. I'm going to have you move all the trash out back to get picked up later, and come see me when you're done. Being distracted or sidetracked is _not allowed_, got it?"

"...Yes..." he said sullenly.

He trod off sulkily, making his way through the inn with some measure of ease, having mapped out many of the paths on the first day. It didn't take him long to find the back door through the staff room and the towering pile of garbage elicited a heavy sigh. Grunting, he heaved the first enormous bag from the pile. "Making a fool out of me, all of them... One day they'll regret it, when I'm rich and famous and strong they'll be begging to worship the ground I tread on."

And then it happened unexpectedly. He'd been grumpily and tediously carrying out trash, bag by bag by bag. _Why the hell did they let this much trash build up? Ugh! _It was his 13th trip – He'd started taking count – and he'd yet to finish moving half of the bags. That was when he heard the sound of talking. Being rather short for his age – Despite Kouryou's best efforts to feed the boy a better diet, he still ate too much ramen – he could pass by under the window without being seen. As a pupil of Kouryou, Naruto had an excellent concept of space – it had been mercilessly beaten into him – and how to realize and utilize that space. Especially because of his earlier altercation, it was child's play to determine which room this was. _That bastard's room. And he's talking with another person? I thought he was the only one booked there. _

"You're _absolutely _sure about this?" The gruff voice of the person most recently added to his Revenge Note carried out the window.

"Sure as sure, one of those kid Genin is the daughter of the Tsuchikage!" This one was nasally, almost forced, even.

"I think I saw them as they came. Red hair, right?"

"Sure as sure, you can't miss that sort of hair color."

The second man seemed confident, but Naruto could almost feel the aura of nervousness that exuded from the first man. "But they have a Jounin with them, don't they? And, and isn't the Tsuchikage's girl supposed to be some sort of genius?"

"C'mon, _trust me_. Her old man is the leader of the ninja village. Even if there's the smallest chance she could get fatally wounded, that Jounin won't be able to do a thing. Who'd want her death on his shoulders? All we gotta do is make sure that they don't make a move. If they can't save her, the only thing they can do is give us the money, right? After all, she's practically a princess."

Naruto's eyes widened as the gravity of the situation finally began to dawn on him. His teammate could be in danger! _… Well, not likely anymore, considering they don't know I'm outside right now. I think the __best thing I can do right now is to finish throwing away this trash and act like nothing's wrong. Kou-sensei always told me never to show my full hand, so... yeah. Heave, ho._ Naruto made several more trips back and forth before he again heard the voices as he passed.

"So, remind me again what measures are in place?"

The nasal one sighed. "I did tell you we were risking being overheard just with the last conversation, right? And you want to speak more on the subject? The walls have ears, you know."

"Yeah, so I've heard, but since I'm the one risking the most, shouldn't I be clued in into the plan?"

"What risks? Aren't we taking most of the risk? The most that'll happen to you will be imprisonment. The worst that can happen to us is death."

"So you say, but the length of my imprisonment may as well be a death sentence. Not only would I have attempted to kidnap and ransom the Tsuchikage's only daughter, but I would be defying Earth Country laws, not to mention the threat of using deadly force. Top it all off with having previous misdemeanors and I'll be in there for life."

"True, true."

"So?"

"Alright, fine. The kidnapping is going to happen tomorrow at noon. I overheard that stupid blond say that they'd be here until tomorrow. At that point she'll be the busiest and the most fatigued. It should be child's play to capture her then, especially with the reinforcements coming in tonight." The nasal one chuckled. "Then it'll be smooth sailing from there."

"Isn't the onsen fully booked?"

"They're ninja, they can fend for themselves outside as long as they get paid afterward."

"If you say so."

_Well, well, well, Naruto you crafty bastard. I guess all that practice sneaking around at night while I vandalized the village has paid off! _Naruto smiled widely. _Things aren't going to go the way you planned. _

Swelling with pride and confidence, he marched off to complete the last of his trash duties.

* * *

"Hey, hey Asuka!"

Asuka ignored the blond as she curled up deeper into her blanket.

"Hey, Asuka! Hey!"

"Mmmrrrgoawayy."

"Hey, listen! Hey, listen! Hey, listen! Hey, listen! Hey-" **THWACK**.

"Go. _AWAY_."

Nursing his aching nose – _She could have broken it, that bitch! _– Naruto crawled back to the redhead, only, this time staying just out of arms reach. "Asuka, this is really, _really, _**really**, _**really**_, _**REALLY **_important!" Even with her pillow smothering her face, he could hear her scoff.

Her clear expression of condescension burned him as she removed the pillow and glared at him full throttle. If looks could kill, Naruto would've been incinerated on the spot. "Coming from you, that's fresh."

"It's only ten! How could you _possibly _be this sleepy this early?"

"Maybe because we were actually _working_?!"

Miraculously, Naruto maintained eye contact with his grumpy, red-faced, fatigued teammate without showing any sign of animosity from the implied insult. "Anyways, I overheard something important, Asuka."

She sighed. "I swear to god, if this isn't important, the rest of our platoon will wake up to find Naruto-kebab on the walls and you'll officially take the world record for being the fastest to die as a Genin."

"So, listen to this..."

…

"Heeeeeehh, so they want to kidnap me, you say?"

"Yup."

"So they want to kidnap this highly talented and influential Genin, you say?"

"Uh, I guess you could say that, yeah."

"So they want to kidnap this jewel among jewels, this amazing beauty, you say?"

"Hahh? You? A beauty?!" CRACK.

Naruto nursed his forehead, freshly red from the vicious headbutt he'd just received.

"Let me guess," she huffed, "that's all you know? You don't know who they were or why they need the money?"

"Uhmm, yeah."

"What are you, an _idiot_?"

"Ugh..."

"It can't possibly be a coincidence that we're both at the same inn. Based on what you've said, it seems as if they've been aiming for me this entire time."

Naruto cupped his chin in a contemplative pose. "Well, you _are_ underage for a Genin. Maybe they think that works for them?"

"And you're _overage_ for a Genin," a deadpan Asuka replied.

"Meh, we can't all be perfect."

"Maybe my dad did something to them when he was still an active ninja?"

"Possibly, but they were talking about a ransom, right? If they wanted to get revenge on your dad, it'd be easier to just kill you or kidnap you or something."

"That's true."

"Mm, maybe they're pedophiles?"** SLAP**.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"

"... Sorry, I deserved that."

"Sure as hell did!"

Two freezing hands grabbed them both by the nape of their necks, causing both to cry out in surprise. "What the fucking hell are you guys doing when I'm trying to sleep, hm?" Koyomi smiled threateningly. Her very presence was an ice-cold death sentence that permeated the around her almost visibly. I'm _very_ tired right now and I don't have an ounce of patience to deal with your shenanigans right now like a mature person. So? _Out with it_."

Naruto nodded. _Tell her_.

Asuka shook her head. _No._

He tilted his head. _Why not?_

She pointed to herself and placed her hand on her chest. _This is my problem_.

Naruto looked at her with half-lidded eyes as he tapped his forehead protector. _Not just your problem. We're a team._

"Enough of this silent bullcrap." Koyomi pulled them both into headlocks on either side. "Tell me, _now_. Or I'll force it out of you if you so wish."

…

"Well that surely is interesting."

"Right?"

"They're almost as stupid as you are," Koyomi chortled. "Just almost, I do believe you take the gold medal in that regard."

"I take offense to that! Kou-sensei's drilled me hard in my studies. I just lack common sense."

"That's what you call an idiot, idiot," said Asuka. She rested her cheek on her hand. "So. We all know the situation now. The question is, what do we do about it?" Asuka glanced at the wall clock. "In a way that leaves us a decent amount of time to sleep, that is."

"You're about to be ransomed and you're worrying about your beauty sleep?" Naruto palmed his forehead. "I'm appalled and incredulous."

Koyomi's eyes widened. "Speak about incredulous, I'm amazed you even have those words in your vocabulary."

"You don't give me enough credit, Koyomi-chan."

"Sometimes I think so too, then you top your last bit of idiocy and I'm reassured that you're still the idiot we've all gotten used to. Oh, and," she reached out and gripped his head tightly, "Don't call me Koyomi-chan, you brat."

"Y-Yes ma'am..."

"So! Back to business, yeah? I do want to hit the sack at a decent time, you know."

Naruto bowed mockingly. "Yes, yes, your highness."

Asuka narrowed her eyes. "You're lucky that throwing a weapon at you would mean damaging the inn." She flexed her fingers. "Prepare yourself for when we get back."

"Yes, yes, whatever you say your highness." He wiggled his ass and picked his nose in complete disrespect for what he knew would've been a lashing back at the village. _Oh man, do I enjoy taunting her without being attacked_.

"Back on topic," Koyomi intervened, "Asuka, you should act like you don't know anything's up. If we can draw them into a lull of false security, we can take advantage of that and activate our trap card."

"Trap _what_?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion. "Is that a weapon of some sort?"

"It's all fine and good if I play dumb and go along with their scheme for a while, but if we don't know what exactly they're going to do, how are we going to trap them?"

Crossing his arms, Naruto thrust out his chest. "Leave that to me, I wasn't the most notorious prankster in Iwa's history without learning something about stealth and traps. The most important thing about dealing with overconfident people is to return to the basics, the things that someone might overlook because it's so simple."

"You mean how you might have overlooked the simple act of me coming back on time?"

By the time Koyomi and Asuka had flinched in shock, Naruto had moved to the opposite end of the room, back to the wall. "I've done nothing, _nothing_! Nothing, I tell you!"

"I thought the three of you were being a little louder than usual, but what do I find the three of you doing when I get back? _Plotting_."

The blond waved his arms around wildly in a state of semi-panic. "W-Well, you see, Kou-sensei-"

"I'm proud of you!"

"... Huh?" the three said in unison.

"When dealing with an enemy, you must plan in such a way as to leave no escape routes. Plan for every scenario and create a contingency for every possible mishap where you can, and..." Kouryou reached out and gripped Naruto and Asuka's heads in a frightening vice, "But never, ever, plot without your team," Kouryou glowered.

"We're sorry!"

He let go and crossed his arms, apparently satisfied. "You guys still have a ways to go in the teamwork department. Well, I was eavesdropping for a while hoping you'd consider filling me in," the Genin shifted uncomfortably, "so I get the gist of the situation. So, let's get down to work. Anyone that messes with one of us deals with all of us. We need an accordingly fitting name for this operation. Let's see... Revenge is best served cold, so why not chaos? Let the planning for Operation Chilled Chaos, begin!"

* * *

I've been in a bit of a bind recently, with foreclosure of our family's house looming, the need to get my ass off and work on my animation, and the all consuming nature of Guild Wars 2. Nevertheless, I will never give up on this story in particular because it is the culmination of all my dreams and desires. Keep strong, friends.


End file.
